• Trainer not expecting the desired rainfall
• Wichita Lineman and Emma Jane vying for favouritism
Betting on the Irish Grand National was thrown into confusion yesterday when the trainer Jim Dreaper described Notre Pere as an unlikely runner, citing the likelihood of good going as his main reason. However, officials at Fairyhouse racecourse said last night that they expected rain before Monday’s race.
“I’m afraid it is looking pretty unlikely he’ll run at Fairyhouse,” Dreaper, who trains less than 10 miles from the course, told At The Races. “The forecast rain hasn’t come, it is good ground and the worrying thing is that it will be dry through to Monday, which I would think will rule him out.
“He does go on nice ground but it’s just that he is more effective when there is plenty of cut. He’s only eight and I would hope the best is yet to come, so for that reason I don’t think we’ll take a chance.
But Joe Collins, clerk of the course at Fairyhouse, is clearly getting his forecasts from a different source. “It’s good to yielding at the moment and we’ve had squally showers, nothing of any consequence,” he said. “We’re due to get scattered showers [over the weekend] and I would think it would stay good to yielding, though unfortunately the forecast is for more rain on Monday.”
Charlie Mann is expected to save Air Force One for the Punchestown Festival later this month, so, in the absence of Notre Pere, top weight in the Irish National would fall on Wichita Lineman, who is currently vying for favouritism with Emma Jane at around 9-1.
That possibility was greeted with no enthusiasm at all by Wichita Lineman’s trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, who expressed doubts as to whether his horse would run if lumbered with more than his current 11st. He added that the eight-year-old had recovered well from a hard race at the Cheltenham Festival, where he won the William Hill Trophy in a driving finish.
Dreaper expects to declare Notre Pere for the race and make a decision on Monday morning, but Irish rules allow for the weights to be raised at that late stage if a topweight is withdrawn, as backers of Psycho found out to their cost in the Pierse Hurdle in January.
There was a major gamble on Delegator for the 2,000 Guineas yesterday morning, the colt starting the day as a general 25-1 shot and ending it as 8-1 third-favourite with many firms. The move came in response to an impressive gallop, reported in very favourable terms by his trainer, Brian Meehan.
“Judged on what I saw this morning, I would have to be confident about our chances in the Guineas,” said Meehan, who will send Delegator, fifth in the Dewhurst on his latest start, to Newmarket for the Craven Stakes on Thursday.
Meehan also trains the current Derby favourite, Crowded House, and has said that the chestnut will either go straight to the Guineas or wait for York’s Dante Stakes on 14 May. In light of the Delegator gamble, the latter option now seems more likely and Crowded House was being traded at 25-1 for the Guineas on Betfair last night.
Naaqoos, trained in France by Freddy Head and currently second-favourite for the Guineas, makes his seasonal debut in the Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte today.