Weekend previews: The 2004/'05 Irish jumps season comes to a conclusion today and Noel Meade can celebrate another trainers' championship in the bag by completing a treble at Punchestown.
Meade retains the title with a total of 77 winners to date that have already bagged him close on 1.5 million in prizemoney. Willie Mullins fills the runner-up place in the table.
Ruby Walsh is champion jockey in Ireland for the third time in his career with a total of 111 winners going into today which puts him 12 clear of his great rival Paul Carberry. Niall "Slippers" Madden is a clear-cut winner of the amateur title with 38 winners up to now and the new conditional champion is Tom Ryan with 31 winners.
Carberry takes the mount on Father Matt in the opening hurdle and even though the expensive four-year-old Loyal Focus is among the opposition there was plenty to like about the way Father Matt won at Cork last week.
The Meade team also look to hold a strong hand in both divisions of the bumper with the highly-touted Sporting Limerick having a second career start in the first leg.
Meade has another highly regarded JP McManus-owned contender for the second division in Dooley but Niall Madden is a significant looking booking for Flaming James who was only one place behind Sporting Limerick on his own debut.
The four-mile Conyngham Cup will be right up Caislean Ui Cuain's street but Christmas Crackle won't want for stamina either and could be better value.
Gowran Park will hold a 7.30 inspection this morning to see if tomorrow's scheduled card can go ahead. The track is currently raceable but, if the weather forecast for rain is correct, there could be a big doubt about racing going ahead.
The weather has already made an impact on tomorrow's other card at Navan with the sprint races called off because of waterlogging and the other races divided to make a six-race card.
The Gowran outlook will be bad news for John Oxx who hopes to give Ehsan a second career start in the Glanbia Classic Trial. The first, a seven-length maiden success at the Curragh, was enough for some sustained support in the Epsom Derby betting and if that is to have any substance at all then Ehsan will have to maintain his unbeaten record.
The Navan feature will be the Listed Vintage Crop Stakes where the Oxx team will have the topweight Mkuzi as well as Icklingham who has been impressive in handicaps recently. Orpington, who was Group placed at Longchamp last Autumn, is highly regarded by Dermot Weld, however, and he might be the solution.
