Racing, Leopardstown preview: Ruby Walsh's mount Quatre Heures has been one of the major ante-post gambles for the first major prize of 2007, tomorrow's €130,000 Pierse Hurdle, but the Willie Mullins-trained horse will have to pull off a major weight-carrying performance if he is to be successful.
In all, the Mullins team have three chances among a maximum field of 30 for one of the most competitive handicaps of the season but it's the switch of a fourth Mullins-trained horse to a later race that might yet prove crucial.
Adamant Approach, the 2002 Pierse winner, and the original topweight for tomorrow, now goes in the three-mile Pertemps qualifer instead and the result is that Quatre Heures and his stable companion, Mister Hight, share topweight of 11-10.
Only three horses have managed to carry more than 11st to victory since 1990 and none carried as much weight as the Mullins pair have. In the circumstances then, it might pay each-way punters to examine the chances of Mullins's third option, Orge d'Ete, as a viable each-way alternative.
Walsh's choice of QuatreHeures, however, looks significant on the back of support that has seen the horse drop from fancy 20 to 1 prices last week to as low as 7 to 1.
Certainly, the French bred has the class to be a major player here since he was a Grade One winner at the Punchestown Festival last April. However, the fact remains that he hasn't raced since finishing down the field at Auteuil last June and it will be a major coup by Mullins to have him ready for a task like this first time out.
Mister Hight in contrast comes here in winning form, a comment that also applies to the other major gamble of the race, Kendor Dine. Barry Geraghty' s mount will be having just his fifth start over flights but he is a battle-hardened operator from a flat career in France which included a Group Three victory at Saint-Cloud last winter. The testing conditions also won't be a factor as Kendor Dine sluiced through the ground to win here at Christmas.
Kendor Dine's trainer, Eoin Griffin, has been in flying form for the last couple of months and along with View Mount Prince, Lenry and last year's beaten favourite Victram, the ante-pot favourite, looks to hold a leading chance.
There's hardly value left among the leading players in the betting, though, and a combination of very testing ground, a frantic pace and a valuable 7lb claim could see Orge d'Ete bely some fancy odds to run a very big race.
The claim is supplied by the 19- year-old Dublin-born jockey Conor Maxwell who only rode his first winner last November but who has impressed many observers since with three more and who could have a big day tomorrow with five rides that also include Pantarez and his old friend Dosco in the Pertemps race.
Orge d'Ete for his part won two races in deep conditions before tackling a Grade Three over two and three quarter miles at Limerick over Christmas. He cruised up to track Kazal into the straight but then looked to not get home.
The winner has boosted the form since and Orge d'Ete should be suited by a drop back in trip. Crucially, Maxwell's claim means he will dip under the 11st mark to have just 10-8 on his back. That looks an attractive proposition for big-price punters.
Tomorrow's other major handicap pot is the Leopardstown Chase and if Davy Russell can smuggle Sound Witness into a challenging position in the closing stages, then the Robert Tyner-trained horse should go close. Not for the first time, Sound Witness's jumping let him down in the Paddy Power over Christmas when exiting at the fifth. However, Russell has ridden him three times in the past without incident, including a Naas success last March, and is back on board now. Even a merely competent round of jumping will encourage hopes of beating Hordago and Vedelle.
Arthur Moore will be doubly represented as he goes in pursuit of a seventh victory in the big race but his best chance of a winner may be King Johns Castle in the Grade Two Fitzpatrick Novice Chase. The Naas winner's run in the Drinmore, when he started favourite, is best ignored.
Tom Taaffe used tomorrow's bumper in 2002 to unveil Kicking King and also won it two years ago with Finger Onthe Pulse. With Zafonic as a sire, pace should not be an issue for the Taaffe newcomer this time, One Life.
