Afistfullofdollars back in frame for Punchestown

As we head towards the end of the season I suppose I should look back briefly at last week"s Fairyhouse festival where we won two of the big races. Aran Concerto"s victory in the Powers Gold Cup came at a price as he picked up an injury, it was obvious that something was amiss after Paul dismounted on the way back to the parade ring. At this stage I can definitely confirm that Aran will not run again this season, we"re hopeful that he will be alright. He actually sprained his other hock, the good one, it"s likely that it happened at the last fence where he threw a fantastic leap. He couldn"t have injured it earlier than that and still won. Patience will be the key to winning another race and it will be next season before you see him again. When you look at his record it"s impressive. Aran Concerto has only run eight times and has won six races, twice this season from two starts, if we could manage that with all the horses there wouldn"t be too many complaints. Another one finished for the season is Casey Jones, he over-stretched in the Grand National on Easter Monday and pulled-up quite lame. He finished with two wins to his credit, not a bad return. Four winners can only be described as a good return from Fairyhouse and Fisher Bridge winning the Ladbroke Hurdle on Tuesday was a great boost for everyone. It justified the decision to let him run again after what we thought, initially anyway, was a disappointing run on Easter Sunday. Before last Tuesday"s race we were considering how he ran behind Kempes which is a very good horse. Kempes was probably a little unlucky at Cheltenham where he made a bad mistake in the Supreme Novices Hurdle which we won with Go Native. That turned out to be very good form and we may have underestimated Fisher Bridge which will now either go to Punchestown next week or maybe the Galway Hurdle which would be another alternative. Niall Madden gave Fisher Bridge a good ride and was on board because Paul Carberry couldn"t do the weight. Silverhand finishing second was a bonus in a race worth that sort of money. He collected €18,000 for runner-up so it was almost as good as winning two ordinary races. Paul won on The Fist Of God and the plan all along was to get him to Fairyhouse. He hadn"t been working well at home, but he tends to be lazy at the best of times and he is small also.However, he won snugly, but he is the type of horse that always does just enough and I suppose we have to be happy that, on this occasion, the plan worked out. Jaamid won on Wednesday, but it probably wasn"t a great race, most of his previous runs indicated that he was good enough to win that race. All he had to do was stand up. I suppose not everyone would want to win a beginners" chase at this stage of the year with a horse like him, but we felt it was better to take the win if we could get it. Jaamid will retain his novice status until the end of September. We will give him a break after Punchestown and hopefully bring him back for something like the Galway Plate because he does act on decent ground. The jury is still out on Judge Deed which could re-appear this week at Ballinrobe, although it wouldn"t be an ideal track for him because he is so big. He is coming back after a wind operation and it has been hard to find something suitable for him. He wasn"t ready for Fairyhouse and if we can get him to Ballinrobe then we might also try him at Punchestown later next week. Rochfordbridge is also a possibility for Ballinrobe, but he could go to Kilbeggan instead on Saturday for their first meeting of the season. I"m sure there would be a lot of local support and he would be a popular winner. We"ve had some good winners at Kilbeggan, Go Native won his first hurdle race at the Westmeath track last year. We had originally intended to run Go Native in a maiden hurdle at Galway and the Kilbeggan race was to sharpen him up, we didn"t think that he would win, but as it turned out he was a very good horse. It"s amazing really, Go Native won his maiden there and if you remember Iktitaf, he also won his maiden hurdle there. We mightn"t have anything of Cheltenham status at Kilbeggan this weekend, but it might be worth considering our bumper runner, we have two in that race at the moment and one of them should run. Watson Lake could be sent to Cork on Friday for a hurdle race, he got into it without any penalty and we are having a look at it at the moment, the conditions of the race suit and he may run. If the ground comes up good at Cork then we could also see Failte Go Deo, but if it"s anyway soft then it would be more suitable for An Innocent Man, it"s just a matter of waiting to make a decision. Looking ahead to Punchestown, one horse worth considering for a handicap hurdle on the opening day next Tuesday would be Gay Sloane which handles fast ground and we might also consider the Galway Hurdle as an option. Jewel Of The West could also appear next week after that promising run at Fairyhouse. Go Native would be our main prospect for a big-race success on the opening day at Punchestown, he will be aimed at the same race that Jered won last year and Fisher Bridge might also run there. Regardless of what we run, Hurricane Fly will probably turn up as well, that"s very encouraging for everyone? One that I thought was finished is Afistfullofdollars, but he now looks like a contender for Punchestown next week, he"s on a wing and prayer in one sense, but he is sound at the moment. If he stays sound for the next week or so then he will take his chances in the Gold Cup next Wednesday, I actually expect that it could be a small field and he could pick up some prizemoney. Further down the Punchestown road, Harchibald, Muirhead, Aitmatov and Jered are in good form ahead of the big hurdle race on the Friday and Nicanor will go for the three-mile hurdle. Jazz Messenger will not run and will be aimed a some flat races in the coming months instead. Visit Noel Meade"s website: www.noelmeade.com