Accordion Etoile ‘back in the swing’
Paul Nolan’s Grade One-winning star has the two-mile blue riband as his main aim – but his liking for good ground means his campaign will be selective.
Nolan opted to skip the first part of the season, a decision he feels has been vindicated following the desperately soft conditions to have prevailed so far.
“He’s back in the swing,” said Nolan. “He’s cantering again now and we are absolutely delighted with the decision we made as he would have been wasting his time on this ground.
“He wouldn’t have been racing either in England or Ireland on soft ground, so we haven’t missed anything with him.
“I haven’t really got a comeback race in mind.
“He has to have good ground and if it’s not good at Cheltenham there is no point in going there either.
“We can’t just wait for ground the whole time, but unfortunately when you have a horse like him that is top class on good ground and not so good on soft ground you have a bit of a problem.
“It gets to a time when you have to take a chance. You might go from being a 4-1 chance on good ground to being a 16-1 chance on soft ground, though.
“He is not like Brave Inca or Hardy Eustace who can handle any sort of ground, he wants good ground. He is a stone and a half better on it and we know that now.
“He beat Justified and In Compliance at Punchestown so we know he is top class.
“We hope to get a run into him mid to late February, but the way things are looking it’s never going to be fast ground at Cheltenham again, although that is a good thing as we will have our better horses for longer.
“I wouldn’t have any qualms about sending him there first time out as long as we could get a racecourse gallop into him.”
Accordion Etoile is a general 16-1 chance for the Queen Mother in March.
Meanwhile, Cuan Na Grai is still on the easy list after disappointing at Cheltenham’s Paddy Power meeting.
The five-year-old leapt to the head of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle betting after a four-length success in the ultra-competitive Galway Hurdle back in August.
He was then brought over to contest a Grade Two Novice event at Prestbury Park, but found the tacky ground all against him and trailed in sixth behind Moon Over Miami.
“One of the top jockeys told me before the Cheltenham race ‘your horse is favourite and on this ground I would have him a 20-1 chance’,” said Nolan.
“Basically he couldn’t win a bumper on that ground but he would slaughter the same horses on good ground.
“He will be aimed at the Supreme, despite him being in the Champion Hurdle betting. I know some horses can go through the handicap route and run in the Champion but there is plenty of time for that.
“I’ve no comeback race in mind for him, he’s on a bit of a break now as he came back from Cheltenham with slight muscle trouble.”
