Paul Hourigan will ride Dorans Pride in Saturday week's £100,000 Nicholson Champion Chase at Down Royal. It will be the first time the teenage son of trainer Michael Hourigan will have ridden the horse in public. The booking was confirmed earlier this week following Paul Carberry's decision to commit himself to Florida Pearl in the big northern race.

Carberry took over the ride on Dorans Pride last season from Richard Dunwoody after the latter preferred to ride Florida Pearl in the Ericsson Chase, a race that Dorans Pride and Carberry went on to win.

Hourigan Snr said he was "more than pleased" with owner Tom Doran's decision to allow his son take over on the stable star.

He added: "Tom Doran rang and told me to give the young man the ride. I'm more than pleased with that as Paul has schooled him at home and does all the work on him. It reminds me of years ago when Tom gave Shane Broderick a chance on the horse. Everyone said he was mad but it turned out he was far from it."

British interest in the Down Royal feature now rests solely on the David Nicholson-trained Spendid who is only described as "50-50" by his trainer for the race.

Yesterday Noel Chance ruled his Royal & SunAlliance Chase winner, Looks Like Trouble, out and the horse will instead run in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday where Norman Williamson will ride. Chance explained: "The owner has informed me he has been called away on business to America next week and would not have been able to see the horse run. It's disappointing as I had been looking forward to bringing a large team over to Down Royal."

Other notable British-trained defectors are the Gold Cup winner, See More Business, and the 1998 Gold Cup runner-up, Strong Promise.

The prize fund for next year's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, scheduled for Leopardstown on February 6th, has been increased by £10,000 to £110,000, maintaining its position as one of the most valuable National Hunt races in the country.