Racing News:It is 10 years since the old firm of Arthur Moore and Conor O'Dwyer last won Ascot's Victor Chandler Chase but they will be re-united on Saturday when Mansony attempts to secure the third Grade One triumph of his career in the weekend feature.
A total of just eight runners remain in the two-mile event which will be run as a Grade One race for the first time. Among Mansony's opposition could be Dessie Hughes's Schindlers Hunt but it is the Champion Chase favourite Twist Magic who has been installed as a hot favourite, something Moore fully understands.
"You only have to look at the ratings to see we have a tough task. He's on the up and he's a young horse," said the Naas trainer of Twist Magic yesterday.
"But there aren't many in it and we have to have a go at beating him."
With Mansony's regular jockey, Davy Russell, sidelined through suspension, Moore has turned to his old ally, Conor O'Dwyer, who guided Jeffell to Victor Chandler glory for Moore in 1998 when the race was run as a handicap.
O'Dwyer knows Mansony well from his days as a novice, and as a hurdler, but those who believe racing right-handed at Ascot will suit the horse could be over-stating that case according to Moore.
Mansony jumped to his right occasionally when winning the Dial-A-Bet Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas but Moore believes there is nothing significant in that.
"He was out on his own and jumped to his right at the last. It's no big issue. He has won around Navan and is unbeaten at Naas and I'd say there's not a lot in it," he said.
Sunday's Pierse Hurdle favourite Do The Trick, a dramatic faller at the third last obstacle, remains in the UCD veterinary college with a hock injury and it will be another couple of days before the full extent of the damage is known.
"There's quite a lot of blood and swelling so they have to wait for all that to come down before they know fully what they're dealing with," said his trainer, Michael Halford, yesterday.
"It's a serious problem but we don't really know how serious yet.
"It's a big blow because he's a lovely horse who we felt had a big future," Halford added.
"It's one thing falling like that. It's part and parcel of the game. But not bringing the horse home is tough."
Do The Trick's jockey, Paddy Flood, escaped with cuts and bruises but still faces a 21-day spell on the sidelines after being briefly knocked out in the incident.
"I was taken to St James's Hospital but allowed home that night. I've got cuts and bruises but it could have been worse," said Flood yesterday.
David Casey faces up to six weeks on the sidelines with a shoulder injury after his heavy fall from Perce Rock on Sunday and he reported yesterday: "I'm not too bad but I was knocked out for a little while. I dislocated my shoulder and I think there's a small fracture as well but nothing too major.
"I'm probably looking at a similar period to the time Ruby Walsh was off so I'm looking at five to six weeks."
A total of 16 horses remain in contention for Saturday's Grade Two Woodlands Park Club Novice Chase including the Christmas Grade One winner Notre Pere as well as J'y Vole, a distance winner at Cork earlier this month, who is the sole entry by the in-form Willie Mullins team.
Sweet Kiln heads the entries for the Listed Bank Of Ireland Hurdle but an interesting name among the possible opposition is the 2005 Gold Cup hero Kicking King who is due to reappear for the first time in two years in the Normans Grave Chase at Fairyhouse on Sunday.
"Ideally, I'd like to have a crack at the Hennessy on February 10th but if the ground was really heavy, I would look at the Red Mills at Gowran over two and a half miles," said Kicking King's trainer Tom Taaffe.
