Thursday, 21 April 2011
Irish National Preview
Paul Nolan is hoping See U Bob will see out the trip in the Ladbrokes Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.
The eight-year-old will be going a mile further than he has ever travelled before under rules but the County Wexford trainer is crossing his fingers the gelding's stamina will last out.
"See U Bob takes his chance and we've got to decide about Clan Tara who we've also left in," Nolan told At The Races.
"I wouldn't like to run him with firm in the wording. I've been speaking to Peter Roe (manager) at the track for the last couple of days and he's going to assure everyone of very safe jumping ground.
"We ran him at Punchestown last year on firm ground and he didn't have a cut at his fences on account of the ground. Then he disappointed and fell a couple of times.
"See U Bob was probably a shade unlucky in a Grade Two chase in Navan on his last run where he made a couple of mistakes and just got a bit further back than we wanted him to.
"We didn't run him in Gowran on Sunday as the chase track was a bit rough on the take-off and landing side of the fences.
"He takes his chance in the National. We are going into different territory regards the trip but hopefully he'll stay and give a good account of himself."
Jonjo O'Neill's Synchronised tops the 51 possibles following the latest acceptance stage.
Owned by JP McManus, Synchronised is one of nine English entries in the 140th running of the highlight of the three-day Easter Festival at the County Meath venue.