Racing: Punchestown target for Lad
Limestone Lad is set to make his comeback at the Punchestown Festival in April after being ruled out of Cheltenham through injury.
The hugely-popular Irish-trained 10-year-old damaged back muscles in a paddock accident three weeks ago but astounded connections by the rate of his progress.
However, he has only just started walking again and will not canter until next week.
The tough decision to miss the Bonusprint Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in which he was second to Bacchanal two years ago was made just before yesterday’s forfeit stage.
‘‘We realised we were going to be caught for time and there was no point in dreaming of a fairytale. If the horse had run and pulled up with a fatal injury because of a recurrence of the problem then I would never ever forgive myself,’’ said trainer Michael Bowe’s son and assistant, James, today.
‘‘I know there’s going to be a lot of people disappointed that we’re not going to Cheltenham, but we are devastated ourselves that he’s not going to make it.
‘‘We had to make a decision sooner rather than later because the longer we left him in the race the more we prolonged the agony. People were wishing us well with the horse so it was easier to make the decision earlier for the benefit of the horse.
‘‘He’s well and coming back to himself, but we’ve only just started to jog him and he’ll probably start slow cantering next week.
‘‘You couldn’t expect a horse to go to Cheltenham with that sort of preparation. It would be unfair to the horse and then there’s the travelling over and the whole rigours of Cheltenham.
‘‘A horse needs to be on the top of his form. The timing of the accident was all wrong for Cheltenham and preparations were thrown completely upside down.
‘‘We’re taking it day by day and I’m working in conjunction with the vet.
‘‘We’re going to do a further scan on the horse to see how the muscle is progressing.’’
Bowe now hopes to prepare the winner of 29 races for the Ballymore Properties Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown in two months’ time.
Ironically, Limestone Lad may well have his first serious piece of work since the accident during Cheltenham week in three weeks.
‘‘He’ll probably do his first gallop to coincide with Cheltenham and that would have been the situation had he gone there. He literally would have been getting his first gallop. What kind of preparation is that,’’ said Bowe.
