Forpadydeplasterer has one last chance to get a win on the board this season in Tuesday's Boylesports.com Champion Chase on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival.
Tom Cooper's eight-year-old has finished second on all five of his starts this term, including in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham and the Melling Chase at Liverpool.
Barry Geraghty, the man who partnered him to victory in last season's Arkle Trophy, is back in the saddle and Cooper said: "Hopefully it will be his day. There is no suggestion at all that he is anything but genuine, but he keeps finding one too good."
The trainer added: "He's come out of Aintree absolutely bouncing so while he hasn't had that long to recover, he's telling me he's ready. Barry's back on, but Davy (Russell) and Tony (McCoy) have done nothing wrong on him the last twice, he's an uncomplicated ride."
While Forpadydeplasterer won last year's Arkle, this year's winner, Sizing Europe, steps out of novice company for the first time.
Trainer Henry de Bromhead said: "I suppose we are taking on the older ones one race earlier than if we waited until next season but we did the same thing with his first run over fences too.
"He had that run in May so he's used to doing things earlier than the normal protocol. We are really keen to see him take on the best and we are really looking forward to it and hope he puts in another good account of himself. He loves good ground anyway, so that shouldn't be an issue."
Posts
