Nickname poised to return at Navan
The eight-year-old finished second to Noel Meade’s Watson Lake, who is also a possible, in the Grade Three race 12 months ago. Brassil was disappointed his mudlark could not take his chance at Cheltenham due to the drying ground but there is no chance of that scuppering his plans this weekend.
“The only thing that would stop him running is if the meeting was called off,” he said. “But there’s a very bad weather forecast for the rest of the week.
“It was such a shame it dried up at Cheltenham, but it is just so well drained. The ground was a bit slower on the new course, but I don’t think it would have made a difference to us.
Meanwhile Tom Taaffe’s 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King has begun his long road to recovery.
The nine-year-old has not been seen since winning the King George VI Chase at Sandown later that year after suffering two bad tendon injuries and no decision on his racing career will be made for some time yet.
“Kicking King is great, he’s living in a five-star hotel, he’s not doing an awful lot,” said Taaffe.
“He’s actually walk riding for the first time today.
“Walk riding is nothing serious, but it’s like any horse when they get an injury like this, it is a long, slow process and you don’t know what’s at the end of it.
“We just have to bring him back and we’ll discuss what we do with him in October or November.”
Taaffe also gave stablemate Cane Break a clean bill of health following his fine performance to finish fifth in last week’s Gold Cup.
“We were absolutely delighted with him,” he told At The Races.
“I said to everyone I thought he would finish in the money and he won £11,500. He was only beaten 10 lengths and on softer ground he would have been even closer.
“He is entered in the Betfred and he will also have an entry in the Guinness Gold Cup at Punchestown and he’ll be entered in the Irish National, but with that being a handicap we will have to have a close look.”
