Leopardstown's Christmas festival wound up on Saturday with a Grade One success for Al Eile around the inside hurdles track which will be the New Year centre of attention there in two weeks.
The Pierse Hurdle will be the first major pot of 2008, but that inside course also had an influence on the final big race of 2007 as the former dual-champion Hardy Eustace chased home Al Eile in the Bewleys Hotel December Festival Hurdle.
Not for the first time around Leopardstown, Hardy Eustace looked all but beaten quite a long way from home, but yet again Dessie Hughes's teak-tough star battled heroically and, from looking vulnerable to all five opponents at one stage, only Al Eile could get past him when it really counted.
There was certainly enough in the performance to make the choice for Hughes between a preparation for the World Hurdle at Cheltenham or another tilt at the Champion Hurdle much more than an academic exercise. Part of the equation will also be the suspicion that Hardy Eustace was much less suited to Saturday's track than Al Eile and Co.
Hughes certainly believes so: "The inside track is a little sharp for him and it suited the winner better," the trainer said. "The AIG might come a little quick for him, so he could go for the Red Mills at Gowran instead. The two-mile or three-mile options at Cheltenham are still open to him."
The Champion is Al Eile's sole festival option, and John Queally's horse is as low as 14 to 1 with Paddy Power to win it.
"He has been up with all the good horses since he was a three-year-old," Queally said. "A lot of them don't train on, but he is an exception to the rule. He is the real deal this year and everything was right for him today."
"I will discuss the Champion Hurdle with the owner. Before then, he could go for the Totesport Trophy, although he would have topweight," he added.
Jazz Messenger started favourite on Saturday but was short of room at a crucial stage on the run to the last. Nevertheless, Noel Meade was disappointed with the run and will hope for better in the AIG.
"Getting shut off didn't help him, but he didn't jump the last well anyway," the champion trainer said. "I would imagine he will run in the AIG along with Aitmatov."
Dessie Hughes had better luck in the Listed mares hurdle when Grangeclare Lark repeated her win of last year in the two-and-a-half mile event.
But favourite backers were denied in the Beginners Chase as Wins Now, market leader in the absence of Nicanor, crashed out at the last, leaving Pedrobob to win by a distance.
"I think he would have won anyway," said Pedrobob's owner Barry Connell.
"The plan is to come back here in three weeks for the Arkle and then Cheltenham. He's won there before (County Hurdle) and we're entitled to have a look at it."
Racing Report from Leopardstown
The Leopardstown authorities expressed general satisfaction after Saturday's conclusion to the Christmas festival, with total attendances for the four days reaching over 61,000, writes Brian O'Connor.
Saturday's figure of 10,075 continued the trend of a slight decrease in crowd figures throughout the week, while bookmaker turnover was also generally down.
The last-day bookmaker figure of €1,598,253 was up on the 2006 total of €1.36 million, but seven races were run as compared with five at last year's corresponding fixture.
It brought the bookmaker figure for the four days to almost €7.4 million, while Saturday's Tote turnover of €416,271 meant a total for the week of almost €2.4 million.
"It is pretty much as we expected," said Leopardstown's manager, Tom Burke. "The Tote was up and the trend everywhere recently is for bookmaker figures to be slightly down."
"The St Stephen's Day crowd (17,004) might have been a little disappointing, but I think the Leinster rugby match in the RDS, which was a sell-out at 18,500, might have hit us. But it has been a success overall and I can't ever recall us finishing up the four days with the ground being called yielding.
"It means we will have no trouble with ground before Pierse Hurdle day on January 13th," Burke added.
