Minella in for debut delight

MINELLA INDO, collared late by Champ in the RSA at Cheltenham, will be the star attraction when he makes his seasonal debut in the four-runner M W Hickey Memorial Chase in Wexford today.

Henry de Bromhead’s classy stayer has run only three times over fences, landing a beginners at Navan before his heroic effort in Cheltenham.

But he looks a potential Gold Cup contender and will be expected to make a successful return here, at the expense of recent Galway scorer Milan Native.

Also in Wexford, Gordon Elliott’s Grade 2-winning hurdler Andy Dufresne will be a short-priced favourite to make a winning chase debut in the Gerry Flood Landscaping Beginners Chase and should deliver.

Meanwhile, La Joconde should open her account in the two-year-old fillies maiden which opens the flat card in Galway.

Aidan O’brien’s Frankel filly has shown promise in each of her three starts, maidens at Cork and Gowran Park and, most recently, in a listed event at the Curragh – when she finished a creditable third behind Fantasy Lady and Sense Of Style.

Later, the versatile Cerberus, runner-up in the race last year, appeals in the We Are In This Together Galway Handicap following a solid run, when favourite, behind subsequent flat winner Politicise in the

Liam Heal Memorial Lartigue Handicap Hurdle in Listowel.

Elsewhere, Jim Bolger (above) enjoyed a Group 1 double on Saturday – owner, trainer and breeder of Kevin Manning-ridden Vertem Futurity winner

Mac Swiney and breeder of Gain Up winner of the Criterium de Saint-cloud for Mark Johnston.

STAR TURN Trainer Henry de Bromhead