Demon bids for Punchestown gold
Racing Demon will try to get his season back on track when he faces the starter in the €250,000 Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup later this month.
Henrietta Knight's charge has had a mixed campaign since winning the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon in November and was fifth in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham on his latest start.
The Wantage trainer felt the seven-year-old did not enjoy going left-handed there and now plans to restrict him to right-handed tracks.
"The plan at the moment is to go for the Guinness Gold Cup if the ground remains OK. He's come out of the Cheltenham race very well and the plan now is to keep him to right-handed tracks if possible," said Knight.
"It's been a very up and down season. He hasn't really had a full season because he fell and ran loose on the first occasion and then ran a good race at Huntingdon (won the Grade Two Peterborough Chase) and in the King George (third) at Kempton.
"Then of course he had the fall over hurdles and he ran off right-handed a bit at Cheltenham.
"I think the jury's still out regarding the trip but we can only find out by running him over it. I think he stayed three miles in the King George.
"He had quite a lot of use made of him early on and the ground was quite soft and probably tired him out a bit, whereas Exotic Dancer was cleverly ridden and came from behind to take second.
"I don't know how he'll get on at Punchestown - up hill, down dale and three miles one - but we've got to try it. We're hoping for the best."
Other British-trained possibles among a 28-strong entry for the Grade One contest on April 25 include the Paul Nicholls-trained Taranis, winner of the Ryanair Chase, and his stablemates Neptune Collonges and My Will.
Strong Flow - a 14-length winner of the 2003 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup when handled by Nicholls - could also line up.
The 10-year-old, now trained on the Curragh by Dessie Hughes, ran in a point-to-point on Sunday.
"I think he had a ligament problem and a growth in his knee when he was with Paul Nicholls and he joined me in the New Year," said Hughes.
"He's a lovely horse - he's grand. We'll see how he goes between now and Punchestown but that race is a possibility.
"Our intention was to run him in a hunter chase first and he's in at Fairyhouse on Sunday but unfortunately he fell at the last fence yesterday in a point-to-point at Ballynoe, so he didn't qualify for that.
"The plans are up in the air at the moment but he's none the worse for the fall."
