Cheltenham Gold Cup third Road To Riches is the star turn among 12 entries for next Thursday’s Clonmel Oil Chase.
Noel Meade’s stable star won the Galway Plate, the JNwine.com Champion Chase and the Lexus Chase during a fantastic campaign last season before being placed in the blue riband at Cheltenham and the Punchestown Gold Cup.
The eight-year-old will drop to two and a half miles if making his seasonal reappearance in this Grade Two event at Powerstown Park.
Felix Yonger won his last four races last season and is one of three contenders for Willie Mullins. The champion trainer has also entered Gitane Du Berlais and Twinlight.
Gordon Elliott is represented by Bright New Dawn, Clarcam and Roi Du Mee, while Sandra Hughes has entered last season’s Irish Grand National hero Thunder And Roses. The Mouse Morris-trained First Lieutenant, Henry de Bromhead’s pair of Home Farm and Smashing and Tim Doyle’s stable star Mallowney complete the list.
Human error
Sara Bradstock, meanwhile, is not ruling out supplementing Coneygree for the King George VI Chase after human error led to to the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero missing the first entry stage for the St Stephen’s Day highlight.
While dual winner Silviniaco Conti and Irish superstars Vautour and Don Cossack all featured among a stellar cast when entries for the Kempton showpiece were revealed on Wednesday, Coneygree was not on the list and Bradstock, wife and assistant to trainer Mark, has revealed the omission was down to a lack of computer skills.
Bradstock said: “I’m afraid we can’t blame anyone but ourselves.
“Mark was doing the computer entries last week and I think he must have pushed the wrong button. As I keep telling people, we’re good with horses, but not so good at IT!”
Coneygree is due to reappear in the 188Bet Future Stars Chase at Sandown on Sunday before a likely tilt at Newbury’s Hennessy Gold Cup on November 28th.
