Time was when Leopardstown’s Christmas festival was mostly a domestic affair, a time which could look even more distant if Uxizandre can pull off a cross-channel
Grade 1 raid for Wiltshire-based Scot Alan King.
The intrinsic correlation between racing on both sides of the Irish Sea is obvious from how Uxizandre’s owner JP McManus will also have Grade 1 ambitions for the Welsh- based At Fishers Cross at the track on Sunday.
He is due to run for the legendary owner in the three- mile Squared Financial Christmas Hurdle but it is at the other end of the spectrum that Uxizandre operates in the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase and it's that two-mile trip which has helped force a new perspective on the six year old.
Dropped to the minimum distance for the first time at Cheltenham last month, Uxizandre put in a foot-perfect display to beat Simply Ned and the subsequent Tingle Creek winner Dodging Bullets.
Testing ground
A combination of trip, testing ground and going left handed resulted in a career best performance and the Dial-A-Bet presents a similar challenge against a home team, many of which it can be argued could be better served with more of a stamina test.
Ballycasey flattered to deceive on occasion over longer distances but a drop back could be just what is required with this free-running sort who won impressively at Gowran last time. Uxizandre however is now tried and trusted at the trip.
"The important thing with him is to keep him running on left handed tracks," reported King who is making a rare raid on Leopardstown.
Just a handful of runners line up for the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle, including a Willie Mullins hotpot in Nichols Canyon who landed the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse just a month ago.
That’s a similar profile to a pair of former Mullins-trained Royal Bond winners in Sous Les Cieux (4-9 in 2011) and Zaidpour (1-4 in 2010) who both subsequently got turned over in this race. That hardly means Nichols Canyon can’t pull off a double.
But taking short odds about Nichols Canyon, who still might have something to prove in jumping terms, could be dangerous and Sandra Hughes should know where she stands with him having saddled All Hell Let Loose to finish runner up in the Royal Bond. She saddles Sub Lieutenant against him now and this horse was impressive in his maiden last time.
Silver Concorde is likely to be at prohibitive odds on his jumping debut despite ground conditions being a lot softer than ideal for Dermot Weld’s Cheltenham festival bumper winner while Buiseness Sivola can build on his Irish debut at Gowran when just failing to make all.
It could be a different ground scenario for Weld’s bumper hope Call Vinnie, a point-to-point winner on heavy ground before getting beaten twice on a much quicker surface. Leopardstown’s Christmas bumpers have an impressive pedigree in terms of identifying future starts and the Gigginstown pair of Nickname Exit and Dallas Cowboy are likely to attract attention.
