Leopardstown and Naas preview: Not surprisingly for a man with the midas touch in the Hennessy Gold Cup, Michael Hourigan's prediction for what will happen if Beef Or Salmon can win the race for the fourth time tomorrow rings true - "If he wins, he'll bring down Leopardstown!"
Even the Limerick trainer's own achievement in securing a fifth victory in the €180,000 feature, and adding to a remarkable record where only he and Willie Mullins have won the Hennessy in the last 10 years, will be lost in the bedlam for the veteran stalwart.
But the good news for Beef Or Salmon fans who want their hero to emulate Florida Pearl with a fourth success is that their hopes won't be simply sentimental.
The days of arguing that a Cheltenham Gold Cup was just around the corner may be gone but Beef Or Salmon is still very much a main course around Foxrock in February.
Hourigan took the young pretender Mossbank out of the race yesterday in order to keep him fresh for Cheltenham, and Hi Cloy misses out in favour of next week's Red Mills Chase. But his confidence levels were still high yesterday as the older timer Beef Or Salmon aims for old and familiar territory.
"He's in great order. I'm certainly as hopeful as I was last year, maybe more so because the horses here are in better form now. He just didn't have the ideal preparation going into the Lexus the last day so I think he is in better shape now," he argued.
That makes a pretty convincing argument too as Beef Or Salmon has just a length and a half to find on his old rival The Listener on Lexus form and a forecast dry weekend could work against the mud-loving English favourite.
The other British raider is Turko but a bigger threat to the fairytale ending may be the star two-miler Nickname who tackles a three mile trip for the first time in almost four years.
The former Grade One winner Mister Top Notch is also something of a young gun and loves it around Leopardstown. However, a stone bruise picked up by the horse earlier this week is hardy encouraging.
In the circumstances then, it might be a good idea if the Leopardstown authorities get some structural testing done today! Willie Mullins always makes an impression on Hennessy day and even if the big race bypasses him this time, there will be many willing to bet that J'y Vole secures a Grade One prize in the PJ Moriarty Novice Chase.
The ex-French mare has won both her chase starts by a distance and while the Grade One winners Thyne Again and Sky's The Limit will deliver a much stiffer challenge this time, there is no doubting the challenge facing them in trying to give J'y Vole 15lb.
Eight runners line up for the third Grade One, the Deloitte Novice Hurdle, with the first three from the Future Champions Hurdle here last Christmas queuing up for another clash. Cork All Star was behind Whatuthink and Forpadydeplasterer on that day but significantly he remains favourite in ante-post lists for the Supreme at Cheltenham.
Cork All Star looked to be in trouble some way out in that Christmas race and it could be argued that he did well to finish as close as he did.
If the going is slightly better this time, that could make all the difference to Jessica Harrington's free-wheeling star.
Today's Naas fixture could see the Moriarty hope Sky's The Limit get a form boost from Lenrey in the Opera Hat Novice Chase although a win for Arthur Moore's horse could be chiefly memorable for providing Davy Russell with century of winners in Ireland this season.
Fallon ban upheld
Kieren Fallon plans to return to race-riding on August 8th, 2009, after the controversial jockey's appeal to the French racing authorities against an 18-month worldwide drugs ban was turned down.
"It would have made a big difference to be able to come back at the start of the season rather than in the middle of it but at least the uncertainty is over," Fallon said. "I really do believe I can come back a stronger person."
