Mighty turnout for Long Walk
Henry Daly’s six-year-old reversed form with World Hurdle winner My Way De Solzen when gaining a deserved high-profile victory at the Grand National meeting in April.
He returned to the fray at Ascot last month when finding Hardy Eustace too hot to handle over an extended two miles, three furlongs.
Neptune Collonges, second in this race when it was staged at Chepstow last year, also stands his ground – despite making a bright start over fences this term.
Alan King’s Blazing Bailey found Black Jack Ketchum too strong at Cheltenham on Saturday and could clash with the former’s stablemate, Fire Dragon, in Saturday’s £100,000 Grade One affair.
Other interesting possibles include Irish Wolf, a narrow second to Inglis Drever last time, and the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Redemption.
Dom D’Orgeval, Jazz D’Estruval, Lough Derg, Nathos, No Refuge, Royal Emperor and the promising Temoin complete the possible starting line-up.
Cashmans bet: 11-10 Mighty Man, 11-4 Neptune Collonges, 9-1 Dom D’Orgeval, 10-1 Irish Wolf, Jazz D’Estruval, 12-1 Fire Dragon, 14-1 No Refuge, 20-1 Temoin, Lough Derg, 25-1 Redemption, 33-1 Royal Emperor, 50-1 Nathos.
Meanwhile, Mephisto tops the list of 26 horses confirmed for Saturday’s Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle at the 5-day stage.
Howard Johnson’s seven-year-old is set to carry top weight of 11st 11lb on what will be only his second start since winning at Ayr back in April 2005.
Next in the weights are the Nicky Richards-trained Premier Dane and Michael Halford’s Tipperary All Star.
The latter created a huge impression when dismantling a 20-strong field under a big weight at Cheltenham last month and could be one of four Irish-trained runners in the £150,000 handicap.
The other possibles for the Emerald Isle are Artist’s Muse, Well Mounted and the Adrian McGuinness-trained Victram, winner of the Imperial Cup on these shores back in March.
Among a host of interesting home-team contenders are recent Sandown scorer Overstrand, ante-post favourite Tarlac and the David Johnson-owned Acambo, who spearheads David Pipe’s three entries.
