Stars for Fairyhouse and the Fighting Fifth

Pandorama"s performance at Navan on Sunday in the Grade 2 Monksfield Novice Hurdle on Sunday was exceptional. He finished 26 lengths ahead of Paul Nolan"s Alpha Ridge with Paul Carberry, and was our first winner of this race since 1999 when Oa Baldixe won. What was even more amazing about it was the fact that Alpha Ridge, when it last won in Cork three weeks ago, won by a distance. In Navan, Paul Nolan"s charge failed to get Pandorama off the bridle. The owner, Robert Bagnall, is a great supporter of racing and anybody who stops off in his Hilamar hotel in Kinnegad for a drink or a bite to eat can"t fail to notice all his racing memorabilia on the walls. He is also a big supporter of GAA, and sponsors the Westmeath football team. Panrdorama looks a real exciting horse and has a huge engine. The race didn"t take a puff out of him. He"s very clean-winded. He"ll probably go back to Navan for the Barry and Sandra Kelly Memorial in three weeks and then run in the spring. He handles heavy ground well, but I wouldn"t like to see him on quick ground. He won a point to point for John Halley in Dungarvan at the back end of last season, and was recommended by Mary Kavanagh, whose husband Peter Kavanagh worked with us here. She is the riding instructor at Headfort School and is also responsible for the riding education of John Halley"s children. There were a few disappointments as well at Navan. Realt Dubh ran very well and was second to Willie Mullins Mikael D"Haguenet. It was a decent performance by the winner and one to watch in the future. In the Bumper, Roches Point and Nina Carberry were just beaten by a short head by Charlie Swan"s Long Strand. The ground was as much to blame as anything. Paul pulled up Offaly in the Troytown. He didn"t seem to be right when he came in and may have pulled a muscle. There are three Grade 1 races in Fairyhouse as part of the Winter Festival. The Drinmore Novice Chase will see Aran Concerto making an appearance. He came out of his last race all right, at Navan two weeks ago, after a 20 month spell on the sidelines. We"ll see how he comes out of the work outs this week. He worked out on Tuesday morning and all looks well. Casey Jones is another possibility for the Drinmore. Aitmatov will be running in the Hatton"s Grace Hurdle, which he won last year. Muirhead will be running in this as well.Aitmatov needed the run when fifth to Catch Me on his reappearance at Mnavan this month, and worked well last week. He was very heavy when he came back to us. Muirhead won the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle 12 months ago. He has only been beaten once, at Cheltenham. He hasn"t been easy to keep in feeding and looking well, but is a fine machine. It will be a good race, with Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca also taking part. Also running in the Royal Bond are Fisher Bridge, who has won twice already at Punchestown and second behind Academy Sir Harry in the Grade 3 For Auction Novice Hurdle at Navan. Donna"s Palm made an impressive debut in a Navan bumper before following up with an emphatic win at Naas last month. Across the water, Harchibald will be running in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, a race he has won on two occasions in the past, last year and in 2004. It will be all about the ground. If the ground stays right - he likes good ground - then things will be hopeful. Unfortunately, it rained overnight on Monday/Tuesday, so that"s not a big help. We would be hoping for good to soft. It should be a good race. There are a number of Irish entries, and a good selection of English entries. The 2007 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner, Sublimity, is taking part. Denis O"Regan had a great win on Dessie Hughes" Black Apalachi at Aintree at the weekend. The horse just took to the track - some horses take to the Liverpool track and love it. Denis was delighted. Paul Nicholls" horse Mr Pointment finished second - it wasn"t a good weekend for Paul. There are ups and downs in racing and last week was a bad week for Paul, who had seemed invincible. But that"s racing and we"ve all experienced it. And there weren"t too many of the Irish trainers at Navan on Sunday disappointed to see his Officer de Reserve going out through the rails!