Celestial Halo set for Irish debut

Celestial Halo looks set for his first trip to Ireland after featuring among 12 entries for Sunday’s Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Last season’s Champion Hurdle runner-up was hugely impressive on his seasonal reappearance at Wincanton but was then beaten into second by Khyber Kim when odds-on for the Boylesports.com International at Cheltenham.

Owner Andy Stewart said: “We’re going to run Celestial Halo in the Irish Champion Hurdle on Sunday at Leopardstown.

“My view is he needs a run before the Champion Hurdle, he’s probably not good enough to win the Champion Hurdle so what’s the point of waiting until the Wincanton race (Kingwell) when that might be frozen off or something.

“He needs a run, it sounds like Leopardstown will have some reasonable ground.

“Ruby (Walsh) thinks he will take to the track quite nicely so we’ll give it a go.”

Celestial Halo will certainly face a thorough examination, with the Charles Byrnes-trained Solwhit likely to put up most resistance as he chases his third Grade One prize of the campaign.

Nicky Henderson has left in reigning champion hurdler Punjabi, although a trip to Haydock is thought to be his preferred destination.

Noel Meade has Donnas Palm and Muirhead engaged, while Al Eile, Bahrain Storm, De Valira, Royal And Regal, Sublimity, Torphichen and Won In The Dark complete the entries.