Iktitaf tops Novice Hurdle field

Iktitaf heads a select field of five runners for the Grade Two Byrne Group plc Novice Hurdle at Punchestown on Sunday.

Noel Meade’s five-year-old lowered the colours of one-time Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favourite O’Muircheartaigh in the Grade One Royal Bond Novice Hurdle on his last start in early December but has been off the track since.