RACING: A mouth-watering rematch between Solerina and Golden Cross at Leopardstown over Christmas could be on the cards after the star mare's connections yesterday gave the green light to running over the holiday period.
Solerina added a 21st victory to her sparkling CV when winning at Navan on Saturday, just six days after edging out Golden Cross in a thrilling finish to the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
That three-in-a-row Grade One epic is generally regarded as being one of the races of the year and another clash could happen in the three-mile woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown.
"Three miles around Leopardstown has never really appealed to us and there is a question mark if she has ever really stayed the trip. But she is so well that if everything stays as it should we will probably run there," said Michael Bowe, son of the permit holder James Bowe, yesterday.
"It's a terrible thing to say but I think the run at Fairyhouse actually brought her on. She improved for it and put on condition. I couldn't be happier with her and she is giving all the right signs," he added.
It is a less straight-forward Christmas question for Michael Halford who reports that Golden Cross has emerged in good shape from his first career start at over two miles.
That Hatton's Grace performance under John Murtagh earned Golden Cross quotes of as low as 16 to 1 for Cheltenham's Ladbrokes World Hurdle but Halford is unsure as to whether he wants to pursue the stamina route.
"We have analysed the last day's race every which way and the only decision we have come to is that there will be no decision until we see the entries for both the woodies and the bewleyshotels.com Festival Hurdle over two miles," the Curragh trainer said yesterday.
Golden Cross sprang the greatest Grade One shock in Irish racing history when winning the two-mile race at odds of 66 to 1 in 2003 and Halford has not ruled out pursuing a route to the Champion Hurdle rather than the Stayers crown.
"I want to see what is left in and what the ground will be like. He needs testing conditions and a good pace over two miles and from what I can see at the moment there is no obvious front runner in the shorter race. Noel (Meade) is talking about running Harchibald in it and no pace would set it up for him," Halford said.
"I wouldn't mind trying him again at two miles. He likes a gap between his races so there aren't many chances to try him. At the same time he appeared to stay very well the last day and it would be interesting to see him at three miles also.
"We will try and work out a plan working back to Cheltenham but until we see the entries at Leopardstown there is no point making our minds up," he added.
Another star hoping to make Leopardstown over Christmas is Moscow Flyer who will work later this week in preparation for a comeback in the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase. A bad scope ruled Moscow Flyer out of the Tingle Creek earlier this month but trainer Jessica Harrington reports: "He was never that sick but looks better now. He will work later in the week and we will know more then. But Leopardstown is still the plan and we hope we get there."
There will be Grade One action at Navan on Sunday and a total of 15 entries were left in the two-and-a-half mile Barry & Sandra Kelly Memorial Novice Hurdle at yesterday's forfeit stage. They include the course winner, Powerstation, and his old rival, Travino, as well as a trio of Noel Meade entries that include the unlucky Nicanor.
Also remaining in the race are the former top bumper star Forty Licks as well the Christy Roche-trained Oscar's Advance and Michael Hourigan's highly rated Mossbank.
Tony Mullins's highly rated young chaser McGruders Cross also features among the entries for the Kevin McManus Novice Chase.
