Listener team wait on Down ground

The Listener will face five rivals in tomorrow’s James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal – providing the ground is no quicker than good.

Robert Alner’s talented grey has been declared and connections are eager to run but do not want the word firm to appear in the going description.

The Listener jumped to prominence last season with a classy win in the Lexus Chase on heavy ground and Alner is hoping he will remain competitive in many of the top Irish contests.

Regarding Saturday’s race, Alner said: “I’d still be worried about the ground and it’ll be interesting to see how it rides there today.

“Nick Mitchell, my assistant, is over there and will walk it after racing and we’ll see how it is.

“As long as it is genuinely good ground he’ll run and obviously we want to run as the horse travelled over on Wednesday and I’m really happy with him.

“I’d just be worried if it turned good to firm and I’d reserve the judgment whether to run or not if that was the case.

“The plan was to run him four times in Ireland this season – in this race, the John Durkan, the Lexus and then the Hennessy before taking things from there.”

Should The Listener get the go-ahead to run, he will face stiff opposition from Taranis and Dusty Sheehy’s Justified.

The former won last season’s Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and will be having his first crack at three miles, while the latter will have just his second run at the trip after reappearing with an impressive win in a Gowran Grade Two.

Former Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup winner Strong Flow will represent Dessie Hughes, with Baron De Feypo and Light On The Broom completing the line-up.