Geraghty booked for Shakespeare ride

Lincolnshire trainer Steve Gollings will run his stable star Royal Shakespeare in the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival on Tuesday with Barry Geraghty in the saddle.

The imposing five-year-old, who gave Gollings his biggest success when beating Contraband by a neck in the Premier Convenience Stores Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree, was also entered at the big Irish meeting on Friday.