Harbour Pilot remains on course for a clash with Beef Or Salmon in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown next month.

TAKE a chance on Beef Or Salmon creating a minor surprise by beating mighty Best Mate in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown this afternoon.

Paul Carberry will ride Beef Or Salmon in Tuesday’s Lexus Chase at Leopardstown.

PAUL CARBERRY will partner Beef Or Salmon in next Tuesday’s Grade One Lexus Chase at Leopardstown, when Michael Hourigan’s charge will cross swords for a fourth time with triple Cheltenham Gold Cup hero, Best Mate.

BEEF OR SALMON, in many ways the great nearly horse of Irish racing, has to finally stand and deliver in next Tuesday’s Lexus ’Chase at Leopardstown!

BEST MATE will face a maximum of seven rivals when he bids for back-to-back victories in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown next Tuesday.

BEEF OR SALMON, following a minor hiccup in the Munster National at Limerick, can get his Gold Cup prospects back on track by landing the Grade One James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion ’Chase at Down Royal this afternoon.

Beef Or Salmon is out to take Best Mate’s crown and he gets the chance to prove his worth in the Grade One James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal tomorrow.

HARBOUR PILOT pleased trainer Noel Meade on the gallops yesterday morning and looks likely to line up for the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase on Saturday.

THIRTEEN horses remain in Saturday’s eagerly awaited James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal, following yesterday’s supplementary and forfeit stage.

BEEF OR SALMON can take the first step towards possible Cheltenham Gold Cup glory by defying top weight in the Anglo Irish Bank Munster National at Limerick tomorrow.

BEEF OR SALMON could make his eagerly awaited reappearance in the Anglo Irish Bank Munster Grand National at Limerick on Sunday.

Michael Hourigan’s Beef Or Salmon could make his eagerly awaited reappearance in the Anglo Irish Bank Munster Grand National at Limerick on Sunday.

Beef Or Salmon produced a near faultless round of jumping to take the Punchestown Heineken Gold Cup today.

Beef Or Salmon bids to end his campaign on a high in the Punchestown Heineken Gold Cup tomorrow.

Beef Or Salmon is 6-4 favourite with Paddy Power for the Punchestown Heineken Gold Cup on Wednesday.

CASHMANS have dipped their toes in the ante-post market for the €180,000 Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown next Wednesday.

IRISH bookmakers cannot agree about the chances of Xenophon in the Powers Gold Label Irish Grand National, with Paddy Power installing him 5-1 favourite and Cashmans going 14-1.

HARBOUR PILOT, third in the last two runnings of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, has been allotted top weight of 12st in the Powers Gold Label Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on April 12.

STAR performers such as Hardy Eustace, Harbour Pilot and Moscow Flyer are likely to be attracted by record prize money of €1.7m at the four-day Punchestown Festival next month.

CHELTENHAM last week showed us how real bookmakers, those who use their own money, behave.

Best Mate failed to produce “the same quality of performance” when recording his third successive victory in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, according to British Horseracing Board handicapper Phil Smith.

BEST MATE failed to produce “the same quality of performance” when recording his third successive victory in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, according to British Horseracing Board handicapper Phil Smith.

Best Mate is a top-priced 9-4 with Coral to land a fourth tote sport Cheltenham Gold Cup after emulating the mighty Arkle with a third victory in the great race yesterday.

IT is two minutes after 2.30pm when Jacqui Jenner leads Best Mate into the pre-parade ring.

Best Mate jumped into racing folklore with a third successive victory in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup today.

BY any standards, Florida Pearl’s victory in yesterday’s Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown was an extraordinary performance.

Veteran chaser Florida Pearl heads a field of seven for the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday.

EIGHT horses remain in Sunday’s Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown, headed by last year’s winner, Beef Or Salmon.

Keen Leader, seen by many as the main danger to Best Mate recording an historic third success in chasing’s blue riband at Cheltenham in March, has been installed a hot favourite for the Hennessy Gold Cup on Sunday week.

TED WALSH is planning a double assault on the Martell Cognac Grand National at Aintree on April 3.

Beef Or Salmon has recovered from a slight setback and is on course for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.

BEST MATE remains odds-on across the board to win an historic third Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup following the publication of the entries yesterday.

Best Mate heads the 32 entries revealed today for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup, which takes place on March 18.

BEEF OR SALMON should outpoint Henrietta Knight’s Edredon Bleu in today’s Clonmel Oil Chase at Clonmel and confirm his position as Ireland’s top staying chaser.

IT is no great exaggeration to say that this weekend sees the real start of the National Hunt campaign.

Ireland’s leading Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup hope Beef Or Salmon heads the 15 entries for the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal next month.

Best Mate has been officially crowned top chaser for the first time in the Anglo-Irish National Hunt Classifications – but the handicappers do not regard him as an exceptional champion.

Trainer Francois Doumen is targeting the 2004 Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup after First Gold strolled away with the Punchestown Heineken Gold Cup today.

BEEF OR SALMON is a doubtful runner in this afternoon's Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown.

FOXCHAPEL KING heads the 26 entries left in the attheraces Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday following yesterday’s confirmation stage.

BEST MATE simply lives on a different planet to any other chaser in the universe. That can be the only conclusion, following the total crushing of his rivals in yesterday’s Tote Gold Cup at Cheltenham.