There’s no grounds for running Sizing John
HARRINGTON WITHDRAWS STAR FROM BETFRED
JESSICA HARRINGTON has ruled her Gold Cup winner Sizing John out of Saturday’s Betfair Chase due to the prospect of heavy ground.
The seven-year-old proved a revelation last season for Harrington when, stepped-up in trip, he completed an unprecedented hat-trick of Gold Cup victories, at Leopardstown, Cheltenham and Punchestown.
Reported in recent days to be on course for his eagerly-awaited seasonal debut on Saturday, against the likes of Cue Card and Bristol De Mai, Sizing John will now bypass a race which his owner, the late Alan Potts, had earmarked as a stepping-stone to Cheltenham and a possible £1million bonus.
But Harrington announced last night that, because ground conditions in Haydock are currently heavy and with further rain expected, she was not willing to risk her stable star in such testing conditions in his first run of the campaign.
Instead, she is considering what she referred to as ‘Plan B’, the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on December 10 as his likely target.
Elsewhere, Asthuria should make a winning start over fences and spark another good day for Paul Townend in today’s opener in Thurles.
Just four days after partnering Faugheen to his breathtaking comeback victory in the Morgiana at Punchestown, Townend has prospects of a treble for Willie Mullins.
And Asthuria, a three-time winner over hurdles, should kick things off for the Cork man, at a short-price, in the opener.
Tried in a Grade 1 on her Irish debut, when third to Jer’s Girl, this French import won her maiden at Fairyhouse last November.
But, worryingly, she fell in her next two starts, when facing the classy Shattered Love – she held a narrow lead when falling three from home at this venue in December and, in February, crashed at the final flight at Punchestown, when in front and being challenged by Gordon Elliott’s charge.
Fifth to stable-companion Let’s Dance in the Grade 2 mares novice hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, Asthuria beat a couple of stable companions in a mares event at the Punchestown Festival and was last seen when scoring at Killarney in May, when she beat another Mullins-trained mare Good Thyne Tara readily.
With a hurdle rating of 143, Asthuria looks a fascinating chasing recruit and, barring accidents, should triumph.