Cheltenham Countdown:Arrive Sir Clive is the latest Irish star to be ruled out of next week's Cheltenham festival for which Newmill remains on course for a title defence in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
A total of 16 horses are still in contention for the two-mile crown with both Nickname and Justified joining their compatriot who is the main market threat to the warm ante-post favourite, Well Chief.
"Well Chief is a course winner and he is a link to when Moscow Flyer was winning the race. He has to be a big worry," said Newmill's trainer John Murphy. "But our horse is in good form and Cheltenham has been the plan all season."
The chances of the mud-loving Nickname taking his chance also appear to remain strong with soft ground being forecast for the opening day of the festival on Tuesday.
The going at Prestbury Park yesterday was "soft" with heavy patches although slight improvement could be in place by the time the action gets under way.
"The old course may well come up soft on Tuesday," reported the Cheltenham clerk of the course, Simon Claisse, yesterday. "It's a glorious day today with blue skies and the outlook now is a lot better than it was on Monday. Then it looked like we might be wet for 10 days.
"The forecast we are being given now is that we could get 12-14mms between now and Tuesday. The forecast is pretty decent for the big week itself but everything does seem to fluctuate every couple of days."
One horse who won't now be running next week, however, is Arrive Sir Clive who misses the Ballymore Properties Novice Hurdle after being found to be lame at Philip Fenton's yard yesterday morning.
"He did a super piece of work at the Curragh on Wednesday and I was thrilled with him. Everything seemed to be fine with him afterwards but this morning he was lame," Fenton said.
Arrive Sir Clive had been as low as 14 to 1 for the Ballymore and may not be seen for the rest of this season.
"It's not very serious but he is lame behind and he won't be travelling. It looks like he faces six weeks out but I suppose there is still a chance he might make Punchestown," Fenton added.
The warm ante-post favourite Aran Concerto leads a strong Irish party for the Ballymore although some doubt remains about whether Paul Carberry will recover in time from a foot injury to ride Noel Meade's star.
Willie Mullins will be triple-handed in his bid to win a sixth Weatherbys Champion Bumper on Wednesday although jockey arrangements have yet to be finalised for a team that is headed by Mad Fish. The latter was beaten on his sole start at Fairyhouse by Aranleigh, trained by Tony Mullins, but remains highly regarded by his trainer.
Willie Mullins said: "Mad Fish has come on for that race and I'm very happy with him. He certainly does all the right things at home. Tony's horse looks the one to beat and Cork All Star also looks to have tremendous form."
He added: "Cooldine looks to be improving while Fiveforthree has put in a couple of nice bits of work since winning."
Mullins, twice a SunAlliance Chase winner in the past with Florida Pearl and Rule Supreme, will be represented this time by Snowy Morning who is on target to take on the raging hot favourite Denman next week.
"I was pleased with the way he came out of his last race at Navan. If he can make the jump from Grade Two company to Grade One company, he will be an exciting horse because he jumps and stays so well," the Co Carlow trainer said.
Significantly, Mullins also gave an upbeat bulletin on Black Harry, who will target the three-mile Brit Insurances Novice Hurdle.
"One horse I am particularly looking forward to is Black Harry. He was impressive when he won at Fairyhouse and he loves soft ground. Although he hasn't run since January he is still fairly straight he worked well on Wednesday," he said.
