Istabraq set for early return

Racegoers could be in for a treat next Sunday with the news that Istabraq will bid to redeem his reputation in the £100,000 AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The triple champion hurdler has always managed to leave the crowds gasping in the past with his performances on the racecourse but it was for a different reason that he made the headlines at the same course last month.

Making his seasonal reappearance in the AIB Agri-Business December Festival Hurdle, the nine-year-old took a crashing fall - the first in his 25-race career over timber - at the final flight when looking tired.

Fortunately Istabraq and regular rider Charlie Swan were quickly back on their feet and trainer Aidan O'Brien reports his charge to be none the worse for his ordeal.

In the future, Istabraq is unlikely to be asked to race again on such testing ground - conditions which Swan felt contributed to the demise of his mount.

"I'm sure we wouldn't run him on that sort of ground again," said Swan.

"He's a brilliant jumper, but on soft ground he can just be a little bit brave, and at every hurdle he was standing out. It was the first one he met wrong. He stood out, changed his mind in mid-air and just put down."

There is no doubt that Istabraq is becoming a harder horse to train and sources at Ballydoyle suggest that he will not be fully wound-up before going back to Cheltenham for his bid to retain the Smurfit-sponsored hurdling crown.

It is not yet certain that he will line up next weekend - connections had been mapping out a lighter campaign than usual for their pride and joy.

But the event provides an ideal opportunity for O'Brien to get the horse back on track and back in the winner's enclosure.

Stablemate Theatreworld, runner-up in the Champion Hurdle three years in a row to 1999 but was only ninth last year, could reappear in the AIG even if Istabraq runs. However, Youlneverwalkalone, owned like Istabraq by JP McManus, is set to sidestep Leopardstown.

Hors La Loi III, pulled up on his seasonal debut in the Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham, is the sole British entry in the Leopardstown race.

But he could run instead in the Red Square Energising Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock 24 hours earlier, or not at all.

A spokeswoman for trainer James Fanshawe said: "He's absolutely fine but there's a chance he won't run at Haydock or in Ireland if the ground is too soft.

"Nothing has come to light to explain his run at Cheltenham. He had an off-day, as we all do from time to time."