Royal Paradise to swerve Gowran

Royal Paradise is to sidestep a Grade Three hurdle at Gowran Park on Thursday as trainer Tom Foley does not want to ruin his handicap mark.

The eight-year-old would meet many of his rivals in the Alo Duffin Memorial Hurdle on favourable terms according to the official ratings.

So instead, Royal Paradise – who was sent off joint-favourite for the SunAlliance Hurdle of 2005 – is likely to be saved for the Jim Ryan Services Handicap Hurdle over three miles at Punchestown on Sunday week.

“He won’t run on Thursday – he’s too wrong in the weights,” said Foley.

“If it was a handicap he’d be getting nearly a stone and a half from a good few of them. We could destroy his handicap mark if he ran in Gowran so we’ll wait until Sunday week.”

Royal Paradise made a successful seasonal reappearance in a two-and-a-three-quarter mile handicap hurdle at Galway in October to record his fist win for more than two-and-a-half years.

Foley had hoped to run him at Leopardstown’s big December meeting but the gelding suffered a setback.

“He had a bit of a knock coming up to Christmas otherwise he would have run at Leopardstown,” the Bagenalstown-based handler went on.

“It set him back a week to 10 days so we couldn’t run and it happened three or four days before the race. He’s OK now and ready to run.

“He’s working well so you’d know there’s lots of ability there still.”