LEOPARDSTOWN SUNDAY PREVIEW: NEPTUNE COLLONGES might be the British-trained grey that punters will probably back into favourite for tomorrow's Lexus Chase at Leopardstown but ignoring the other grey raider could prove very costly.
The Listener has already proved his credentials around the Foxrock track, including when winning the 2006 renewal of this weekend's €200,000 highlight.
Indeed, he has become something of a Leopardstown fixture with three more starts since that Lexus victory yielding last year's Hennessy, a heart-breaking defeat to Beef Or Salmon in the same race in 2007, and a third to Denman in this race 12 months ago.
For all those he was in the charge of Robert and Sally Alner and his switch to Nick Mitchell didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start when running poorly behind Kauto Star at Down Royal in October.
No excuse was found for that but The Listener bounced back to something much better earlier this month in the Durkan when only narrowly failing to Noland despite a mistake at the fourth last which could have made all the difference.
The cliché is to see him as an out-and-out mudlark but that ignores the evidence of that narrow Hennessy defeat when his stamina looked to run out. Two and a half miles on almost unraceable going is probably The Listener's ideal but this weekend's going will allow him stay the three miles better.
Stamina is not an issue for Neptune Collonges who is a clear and deserved top-rated after two Guinness Gold Cup wins at Punchestown and a third in last year's Cheltenham Gold Cup.
There are plenty who believe he will graduate into a front-line Cheltenham contender again by March but the evidence so far suggests he is better in the spring and that he can be vulnerable first time out.
That's a combination to make wading in at too short odds seem a precarious business, especially since this is a Grade One that is hardly a 'gimme.'
Exotic Dancer is the third cross-channel raider who skipped yesterday's King George in favour of a trip across the Irish Sea. Seasons of chasing Kauto Star around haven't done much for his win profile but he remains top class at his best and Tony McCoy gets on well with him.
The biggest cheer would be if the 2006 Gold Cup hero War Of Attrition bounced back to Grade One-winning form.
Mouse Morris has elected to run here instead of going to Britain as this was the race he ran in before his finest hour.
Tom Taaffe is triple-handed with Cane Brake, Glenfinn Captain and Slim Pickings but it's hard to escape the conclusion that this will turn out to be a third Lexus in a row for export.
Neptune Collonges might end up the popular choice but take The Listener to be the right one.
