THE ROAD TO GLORY

Fury fancied for winning start

FURY Road is expected to make a winning start to his chasing career in today’s Irish National Hunt Beginners Chase in Fairyhouse.

The Gigginstown-owned gelding, a point and bumper winner, achieved two Grade 2 successes over hurdles, at Limerick and Punchestown, in addition to some excellent places efforts.

And he has always looked likely to be a better chaser than hurdler.

Fury Road produced one his best runs when a close third, behind Monkfish and Latest Exhibition in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham in 2020, with crack stayer Thyme Hill a close fourth.

Last season his best effort came when narrowly beaten by Beacon Edge in the Boyne Hurdle in Navan, his final prep ahead of a tilt at the Stayers Hurdle in Cheltenham.

He disappointed at Prestbury Park, never getting into contention and being pulled up between the last two flights. And he was pulled up again in the

Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown.

Back after his summer break and embarking on his chasing career, Fury Road, from the in-form yard of Gordon Elliott, sets the standard in a hot beginners event.

The opposition includes stable-companion Fakiera, the Mouse Morris-trained French Dynamite – sure to improve from his recent fencing bow in Cork – and Gavin Cromwell’s Gabynako, narrowly beaten by Noble Yeats in Galway.

Banntown Girl, fourth to Quiet Escape in a listed mares bumper in Gowran Park last time, is napped to land the opening Berkshire @Kedrah House Mares Maiden Hurdle.

Beaten less than seven lengths in the Gowran race, the six-year-old had previously slammed subsequent dual bumperwinner Agritime in Roscommon.

Sure to know her job on this hurdling debut, the Danny Mullins-ridden Stowaway mare is preferred to Elliott’s consistent Mighty Maggie, wearing cheekpieces for the first time.

Today’s card features five races for amateur riders, including the Ireland v Britain Handicap Chase, in which Robert Tyner’s Punchestown scorer Direct Image should take plenty of beating.

The market should prove a good guide to the two point-to-point bumpers, with Elliott potentially holding a strong hand in both.

Happy D’ex, an easy winner of her only point – at Dromahane, when trained by Denis Murphy – before being bought for £195,000 is the standardsetter in the mares event.

And, although off the track since scoring at Tallow in February of last year, Elliott’s Glenglass will have most to fear from Pat Doyle’s Umma House winner O’moore Park in the finale.

David Christie, fresh from his triumph with Koshari at Aintree on Saturday, will have high hopes for Vaucelet, winner of hunters at Down Royal and Stratford in the spring, in the INHSC Supporting Point-to-points Hunters Chase.