Church seeking Munster honours
Second in the Irish Grand National and fourth in Sandown’s Bet365 Gold Cup at the end of last season, the 10-year-old returned to form in the Kerry National at Listowel last month after a poor run at Ffos Las.
Hourigan reports heavy rain to have fallen in the past 24 hours and that should help Church Island utilise his stamina.
The handler said: “We’ve had buckets of rain here today, which would be to my liking.
“We’re not sure what happened at Ffos Las, nothing came to light, but he split two Tony Martin runners last time and he has another two in opposition again. The third Dashing George wasn’t beaten far that day and he reopposes.
“If there isn’t a good gallop Church Island will probably make it, but if they go a gallop there’s no need, we’ll just see how the race is run.”
Dashing George was having his first outing since April in the Kerry National and trainer Eric McNamara is expecting that promising comeback run to have brought him on.
McNamara said: “With normal improvement from that, we hope he’ll give a good account and be bang there at the finish.
“It’s going to be softer ground than at Listowel, but the more rain we have, the better as far as he is concerned.”
“I think we overraced him a bit last year and he had some really hard races on testing ground, but he’s been freshened up and is in good form.”
Drunken Disorderly has been off the track since April 2008 but trainer Charlie Swan is not too concerned by the layoff.
“He’s a really good horse.
“He has some good form over hurdles and as long as the ground stays safe, he’ll run,” said the handler.
“He’s had his problems but he’s been working well and he can go well fresh - he’s just prone to making mistakes that’s all.
“We’ll take it one day at a time, but something like the Troytown at Navan might be an option later on.”
Powerstation comes into the race following an encouraging reappearance while Well Run and Tom Taaffe’s promising Treacle take their chances.
Duers is seeking an impressive four-timer but his three recent victories have all come on good ground.
