Dundalk option for Al Eile
Other possibles for the all-weather circuit include Champion Hurdle hope Harchibald, Leg Spinner, Emmpat, Kalderon and Zaralabad.
However trainer John Queally revealed that Al Eile, winner of the December Festival Hurdle, was likely to skip the
Cheltenham Festival and wait for Aintree.
His intended target at the Merseyside track is the Aintree Hurdle, which he has already won twice in 2005 and 2007.
“I just put him in on Friday to give me the option of running him if I wanted to. I’ll see how he is in the next few days,” said Queally.
“He’s in great form and I’m very happy with him. He’ll be doing a bit of work at home so he may as well go there and do it. That’s my thinking on it.
“It’s highly unlikely he’ll go to Cheltenham. We’re just keeping our options open on Friday to see if we run him or not.
“If he didn’t run at Dundalk, he’d go straight to Aintree without a run. That’s his race. It’s Aintree we’re focused on and it won’t be long before it comes round.”
One who will be going to Cheltenham, all being well, is the 2005 Champion Hurdle runner-up Harchibald.
Due to his dislike of soft ground, his trainer Noel Meade has had this race in his mind for some time as a prep.
“The whole point of entering him is to give him a run,” said Meade.
“He’ll do his best to win if he can, but if he doesn’t, it won’t be the end of the world.
“It’s been the plan for a while and because he doesn’t go on soft ground there is no point running him on it.
“If it came up soft at Cheltenham he wouldn’t go there either but thankfully at this time of year it dries out very quickly.
“The horses are running well again now, we had a couple disappoint on Saturday but you always get that. We’d be happy with most of them though.”
Tony Martin is also considering the all-weather contest for Leg Spinner as a springboard to a late-season campaign. The dual-purpose performer was last seen winning the Cesarewitch at Newmarket in October.
“It all depends on the ground. A mile and a half on the Flat would leave him spot on for Cheltenham,” said the Co Meath-based handler.
“I might gallop him after racing or take him somewhere this weekend. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but it’s an option.
“He’s well entered up at Cheltenham. He’s in the Coral Cup and it depends what his rating is and what weight he gets.”
Leg Spinner also holds Cheltenham entries in the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Spa Novices’ Hurdle.
