Noel Meade is fully aware Affordale Fury is likely to need a career-best performance to deny Galopin Des Champs a fourth victory in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Saturday.
Affordale Fury caused a minor upset when winning the Savills Chase at Leopardstown over the Christmas period, with the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs beaten into third place on what was his belated seasonal debut.
Meade expects the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner to be sharper for the rematch on the opening day of the Dublin Racing Festival, but is nevertheless looking forward to the challenge.
He said: “All is well, we’re very happy with our horse, so it’s all systems go at the moment.
“He was only a novice really going into Christmas, so there was improvement there and we always thought quite a bit of him.
“You have to do it again now, I fully expect Willie’s horse to be a lot harder to beat and we will have to improve.”
Conditions at Leopardstown look certain to be testing, but Meade will let Affordale Fury take his chance come what may.
He added: “We always thought he liked soft ground, but he was good the last day on reasonably good ground, so I don’t know.
“We can’t change the ground and we’re going to run unless something goes wrong.”
Affordale Fury and Galopin Des Champs are two of 15 horses left in the Irish Gold Cup following yesterday’s forfeit stage, with Mullins also confirming Champ Kiely, Fact To File, Gaelic Warrior, Grangeclare West, I Am Maximus, Lecky Watson and Spindleberry.
Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Inothewayurthinkin will bid to get his season back on track for Gavin Cromwell, Fastorslow could represent Martin Brassil and the Rebecca Curtis-trained Haiti Couleurs is set to carry British hopes.
Entries for most of the major races on the card are dominated by Mullins and Gordon Elliott.
The Mullins-trained Doctor Steinberg is a hot favourite for the opening Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle, while Elliott is responsible for seven of the 12 remaining contenders, with Kazansky and Santo Sospir perhaps the pick of them.
Mullins also houses the odds-on market leader for the Gannon’s City Recovery & Recycling Services Juvenile Hurdle, with Elliott’s Mange Tout rated his biggest threat, and the powerhouse yards will do battle in the Goffs Irish Arkle with Kopek Des Bordes and Romeo Coolio, who are among six potential runners.
Meanwhile, new Leopardstown CEO Mark Clayton is confident racing will go ahead despite the rainfall.
Formally an executive director at Southwell where he was part of the team that brought City Of Troy to Nottinghamshire prior to the Breeders’ Cup, Clayton is now tasked with overseeing the invasion of British racing fans set to descend on the Foxrock venue, where ticket sales are expected to reach 35,000.
A prolonged period of wet weather, including an unexpected 60mm of rain on Monday, left Leopardstown unraceable yesterdayon Tuesday. However, Clayton said he had “complete optimism” the weekend’s action will not be hindered by the untimely appearance of the storm that has seen some areas of Ireland flooded.
“The storm is pretty much blowing through now and we’re confident given the forecast we will be racing both days, which is amazing given the volume of rain and I’m not sure is many tracks in Britain or Ireland that would be able to take that,” he said.
