Yorkhill heads 11 acceptors for Grade 1 Ryanair Gold Cup at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday

As the countdown to the end of the 2016/2017 National Hunt season gathers pace, Willie Mullins will aim a number of his leading lights at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival and Yorkhill, such an impressive winner at the Cheltenham Festival, is set to put his unbeaten record over fences on the line in the Grade 1 Ryanair Gold Cup Novice Chase on Sunday.

Seeking his first win in the race, Mullins has left in two horses and he could also be represented by Townshend, a wide margin winner at Naas last month. Gordon Elliott’s focus will very much be on the three big days at the County Meath venue and the season’s leading trainer is also responsible for two of the remaining 11 horses in Sunday’s highlight, a race he won in 2013 with Realt Mor.

Elliott’s team is made up of Ball D’Arc, already a three-time winner in 2017 and runner-up in the Grade 2 Normans Grove Chase at Fairyhouse at the beginning of the month, and A Toi Phil which ran out a very good winner of the Grade 2 Webster Chase at Navan last month. Noel Meade has left both his runaway Cheltenham Festival winner Road To Respect and Disko, successful in the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown in February in the two-and-a-half-mile event. Henry de Bromhead is triple handed at this stage with Attribution, Balko Des Flos and Some Plan while Tony Martin could rely on Anibale Fly in the €100,000 event.  The Mouse Morris-trained Baily Cloud completes the early line-up.

Mullins also looks to hold the strongest hand in the Grade 1 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle and Let’s Dance, an impressive Cheltenham Festival winner in the Trull House Stud Mares' Novices' Hurdle, is one of six horses the reigning champion trainer has left in the race. He could also be represented by his Grade 1 Bar One Racing Royal Bond winner Airlie Beach. In total, 14 horses remain in the €100,000 event including three trained in Britain. Fergal O’Brien has supplemented Colin’s Sister which is chasing her fifth straight success while Donald McCain and Nigel Hawke have left both Lastbutnotleast and Pearl Royale in the race respectively.  Shattered Love, which won the Grade 3 Coolmore Soldier Of Fortune Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse in February, Barra and Dinaria Des Obeaux could yet represent Gordon Elliott.

Also carrying a total prize-fund of €100,000 is the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper and 24 horses have stood their ground at the final forfeit stage. There is hardly a stable in better form at the moment than that of Jessica Harrington and last year’s winning trainer could be represented by the unraced Lesley Dawn. The Noel Meade-trained Red Jack beat subsequent Cheltenham Festival bumper runner-up Debuchet to win on his first start at Naas in January and another unbeaten on his sole start is Joseph O'Brien’s Shady Operator which was successful at Limerick last month.

Peter Roe, Manager of Fairyhouse Racecourse, said, “We are looking forward to start the Easter Festival on Sunday with a very competitive and quality day’s racing featuring two Grade 1 races, the Ryanair Gold Cup and the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle, and the valuable Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper. We are delighted to have Cheltenham Festival winners Yorkhill and Road To Respect in the Ryanair Gold Cup while the EBF Mares Hurdle has also attracted the Cheltenham winner Let’s Dance and Grade 1 Bar One Racing Royal Bond winner Airlie Beach. The ground is currently good to yielding and while the forecast is for some rain towards the end of the week, we will be monitoring the situation with regard to watering.”