Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite Beef Or Salmon received an "all systems go" report from Michael Hourigan yesterday, and the Limerick trainer revealed he is considering some switches among the rest of his festival team.
This season's double Grade One winner Hi Cloy had been pencilled in as a likely starter in the Ryanair Chase, but Hourigan may make a late move towards the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Hi Cloy is as high as 50 to 1 for the two-mile crown in some ante-post lists, but his price also ranges as low as 20 to 1 with Coral, and Hourigan is pondering the idea of taking on Moscow Flyer et al in the second-day festival feature.
"He will go for one or the other and he is in grand shape. It's just that I won't make a decision until the weekend," he said yesterday.
"He has finished in front of all those horses in the Champion Chase already this season. He has beaten Moscow Flyer, Fota Island, Central House, the lot of them. The English horses wouldn't scare me either. It is tempting, but it's a case of wanting to make the right decision," Hourigan added.
Hi Cloy hasn't appeared since finishing only fourth in the Kinloch Brae at Thurles, but before that he had won both the Dial A Bet Chase at Leopardstown over two miles and the John Durkan at Punchestown over two and a half.
The Hourigan team at Cheltenham will also include Church Island (SunAlliance Chase), Arteea (Arkle) and A New Story (National Hunt Chase). But there could also be a late call made on Mossbank for the SunAlliance Hurdle.
"The original idea was to run at Thurles on Thursday in the Michael Purcell, but that is turning into a pretty hot race," Hourigan said. "I'm also hearing that the ground at Cheltenham might be turning quick, and I would love to see this horse run on a bit of quick ground. We will see what happens."
As for Beef Or Salmon, the road to winning the Gold Cup at the fourth attempt remains open, and Hourigan reported the horse will travel to Cheltenham in the best shape he has been in since 2003.
"He's got no pains and no aches and his preparation has gone well. I'm very happy with him. Now we just have to keep him in good shape," he said.
There was less good news for Hourigan's Co Kilkenny-based colleague Dusty Sheehy, who announced the one-time Arkle Trophy favourite Justified is out of the festival.
Justified, who was as low as 12 to 1 for the race after winning three of his five starts this season, scoped badly after working at Gowran Park at the weekend.
"You can't go to Cheltenham if you're not totally right, so we've had to make this decision and give the race a miss," said Sheehy. "It's disappointing, but that's racing. We will look towards Fairyhouse and Punchestown now."
Sheehy's neighbour Mags Mullins still hopes to get to the festival with her Grade One-winning novice Travino, but will wait on the ground before deciding on the SunAlliance Hurdle or the Brit Insurance Hurdle over three miles on the Friday.
"I would say we will probably go for the three mile, but I'm waiting on the ground. If they get no rain and it's quick going we might not run at all and wait for Liverpool instead," she said.
Travino, winner of the Kelly Memorial at Navan in December, and runner-up to Nicanor on his last start at Leopardstown, remains as low as 12 to 1 for the SunAlliance on the Wednesday, but that is looking less likely than the longer race."
Boylesports have opened an "Irish trained Gold Cup market", and make Beef Or Salmon an evens favourite. It's 7 to 2 War Of Attrition and 4 to 1 Hedgehunter.
