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Racing News |
Top Irish Duo To Be Entered In Boylesports.com International
28/11/06
Dual Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle winner Hardy Eustace and crack mare Asian Maze are to be entered in the £200,000 Grade Two Boylesports.com International which is run at Cheltenham on Saturday, December 9.
Boylesports, Ireland’s fastest growing independent bookmaker,
has transformed the prize money for the two mile, one furlong contest
and is also offering a huge £200,000 bonus (£180,000 to the
owner, £10,000 to the trainer & £10,000 to the yard’s
stable staff) to any horse that can win the Boylesports.com International
and the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 13, 2007.
The Boylesports.com Hurdle closes for entries at noon on Monday, December
4.
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The Dessie Hughes-trained Hardy Eustace followed a pipe-opener on the
Flat in October with an impressive 11-length victory over Mighty Man
in the Grade Two Coral Ascot Hurdle over two miles, three and a half
furlongs at Ascot on November 18.
Hughes revealed this morning: “I’ll take him to the Boylesports.com
International if the ground is good, and by that I mean normal winter
soft ground, but if it’s heavy I won’t. If they’re
racing on fresh ground he’ll definitely run.
“He travelled through his race really well at Ascot and that was more like him. He’s in tip-top condition.”
Ominously for his rivals, Hughes believes the best may be yet to come
from the nine-year-old, who landed the Grade One Smurfit
Kappa Champion Hurdle in 2004 and 2005, before finishing a gallant third to Brave Inca
in the 2006 renewal.
Hughes reported: “He should be at his best this year, I think. They usually are if they’re not raced when they’re young and he didn’t race before he was five. 10 isn’t too old to win the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle and that’s the aim for him.”
The Tom Mullins-trained Asian Maze is one of the best jump mares of
recent times with four Grade One victories to her name, including the
Grade One Scottish And Newcastle Aintree Hurdle and Punchestown’s
Whitewater Champion Stayers’ Hurdle in April.
The classy seven-year-old pleased connections with a fine length and
a quarter second to a race-fit Iktitaf on her seasonal bow in the Grade
One Maplewood Developments Morgiana Hurdle over two miles at Punchestown
on November 19.
Mullins revealed: “Asian Maze will be entered in the Boylesports
International and we’ll make a decision nearer the time. We’ll
see how the race shapes up, how she is and what the ground is predicted
to be.
“We were thrilled with her second to Iktitaf and she came out of the race well so we’re happy with her. We’re looking for nice ground for her at Cheltenham - nothing faster than good and nothing worse than soft.”
Asian Maze’s Grade One successes have all come at two and a half
miles or further and there was much conjecture last season as to whether
she possessed the pace to be a live Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle candidate,
a question which went unanswered after a fourth flight fall in the extended
two-mile showpiece in March.
Mullins said: “On her recent Punchestown run, you would think she has the pace for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle. Hopefully, we can run her in the Boylesports.com International and then she’ll have another good crack at a two-mile event at Christmas - probably Leopardstown, but possibly Kempton - and then we could more or less make a final decision on her long-term target.”
The Boylesports.com International is the feature race of the mouth-watering
Boylesports International, which comprises of two days of fantastic racing
on Friday, December 8, and Saturday, December 9. All races will take
place on Cheltenham’s New Course, which has not been used since
May.
The fantastic seven-race card on the Saturday also includes what is
shaping up to be a high-class £150,000 Boylesports.com
Gold Cup over two miles, five furlongs.
The prestigious handicap chase has received a £40,000 prize money
boost thanks to the generous support of Boylesports, and attracted a
47-strong entry that includes the first five home in the 2006 Paddy Power
Gold Cup, headed by the winner Exotic Dancer, runner-up Vodka Bleu, third
New Alco, fourth Butler’s Cabin and fifth Graphic Approach, as
well as Taranis, Reveillez and last year’s victor Sir Oj. Weights
for the Boylesports.com Gold Cup, the only race to close early at the
Boylesports International, are revealed tomorrow.
The feature race of the high-quality seven-race programme on Friday, December 8, is the Boylepoker.com Chase over three miles, one and a half furlongs, which was won last year by the Paul Nicholls-trained Royal Auclair - runner-up in the 2005 John Smith’s Grand National - and this year the handicap chase carries tremendous doubled prize money of £100,000.
