Tranquil Sea targets Clonmel double

Edward O'Grady's dual Grade One winner Tranquil Sea bids to land the Clonmel Oil Chase for the second successive year tomorrow.

The nine-year-old made an impressive return to action in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade Two 12 months ago, a year on from winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in brilliant style.

O'Grady has been pleased with his star chaser's preparation for the new campaign but is refusing to look beyond this seasonal reappearance.

"We're hopeful. He seems in good form and won this race well last year," said O'Grady.

"He's won first time out the last couple of seasons so we'll see how we get on. We'll get this race out of the way before we make any plans for the rest of the season."

Tranquil Sea faces just three rivals, including Tony Martin's enigmatic performer Psycho.

The 10-year-old won at Killarney back in May but disappointed on his two subsequent starts during the summer.

"He seems in good form and it's a nice place to start him back and we'll see where we go from here," said Martin.

"I blame myself a bit for his last couple of runs as I made some bad decisions.

"I should never have gone to Galway with him and then I just ran him back too quick in Ballinrobe last time. These were things I learnt after the event.

"Anyway he's had a nice break since and seems in good nick, so we'll see what happens."

Gordon Elliott's Tharawaat and Willie Harney's mare Leanne complete the field.