My absence could be a good omen for Harchibald

I"m not sure what way to look at it, but I"m fairly certain that I will be forced to miss next week"s Cheltenham Festival as I have to report to the surgeon again this week in an effort to sort out the back problem which kept me on the sidelines a couple of months ago. I suppose, in one sense, it won"t make any difference as I have a very good team to look after everything, but it will be disappointing to miss all the action and the special atmosphere that is unique to Cheltenham. I hope to be out of hospital by Friday, but that might change, depending on how things go. And if I manage a winner or two at Cheltenham it will certainly aid the rehabilitation process. The requests from the media for interviews is all part and parcel of the game, I suppose it"s a compliment in one sense, when you"re in demand it means that you must be doing something right. It was unbelievable at Leopardstown on Sunday, everytime I turned around there seemed to be an English reporter or interviewer ready to ask a question - 'How is Harchibald" or 'Will Jered beat Binocular" - questions like that. There is a huge interest in the Champion Hurlde and I have three genuine contenders. We all get a certain amount of buzz out of the media interest anyway, I do a piece for the Daily Mail during Cheltenham week, on Monday I was the special guest on the local radio station, LMFM, for about 30 minutes, but I was talking about something I know and it wasn"t a problem. It"s not as if I have to guess the answers, like when I was at school and it would be worse if no one wanted to talk to you. Then, of course, there is the question mark hanging over Paul Carberry after his fall from Charlie Yardbird at Navan on Saturday. This is almost a pre-Cheltenham ritual at this stage, but it was quite incredible what happened. For starters, you don"t really expect to get a fall in a five-runner race on a horse that has won previously over fences. And I said last week that if Charlie could take his form at home to the track he would win lots of races. Unfortunately, he is a bit windy. What happened on Saturday was that he took off to jump the hurdle, then he changed his mind, took another spring at it and tripped himself up. He won"t jump fences anymore, he"s a bit afraid of them, it"s a bit of a puzzle at the moment. Paul got stood on just above his knee and he is now getting treatment, hopefully he will be okay by the end of the week. I was fortunate to be able to get Paul Townend to ride Archiestown in Navan, he gave him a great ride, although he didn"t win. Ross Geraghty had a nice winner for us on Island Life on Sunday, it was great to see that horse showing his best form again. Ross gave him a great ride and kept him going from the last, it was probably extra special for Ross that he beat his brother Barry. Island Life was going well earlier in the season and then just lost his way to such an extent that the owners had him in the sales at Doncaster. We tried to push him to a few different people and nobody would bite. With the downturn in the economy we felt it was better to keep him than to give him away and he got another chance. He went to Navan a couple of weeks ago and was lame when he got to the start, so Sunday was definitely his last chance. There was something annoying him, but we don"t know what it was. He got over it and he is in great form after the win, we might look at a novice chase in Navan later this month or a handicap chase at Punchestown in April. I suppose Mattock Ranger has taken over from Isalnd Life in that he ran a stinker in the same race. He"s in the Aintree National, but on that display it wouldn"t be worth sending him to Liverpool I was disgusted with Donnas Palm at Thurles on Thursday, he blew very hard after the race which might be due to the fact that I eased down on him a bit, but he was never going. I"m at a loss to explain that performance. Looking ahead to Cheltenham, I suppose the fact that I won"t be there might be viewed as a good omen for Harchibald. Any time he won in England I wasn"t there. He didn"t run at Dundalk last Friday night because we have to mind him, he has worked well at home and we are happy with that. I think that Harchibald would be a very popular winner, but then you could have a head-to-head between Jered and Binocular either, it has all the makings of a fascinating race. If the ground comes up right, I would fancy Harchibald, but don"t rule out Muirhead, the faster they go, the better it will suit him. Jered is in fine form, he worked with Jamiid, Sky Hall and Casey Jones on Sunday after racing at Leopardstown. Sky Hall has to be a live contender for the County Hurdle, he was going well at Christmas when he fell, but it was an unlucky fall. Casey Jones goes for the three-mile novice chase and has a good chance. Realt Dubh will be aiming for the Ballymore Properties, he will run a decent race, but whether he"s good enough to win is open to debate, I think chasing next year will bring the best out of him. Nina will be looking to keep her good record at Cheltenham intact with Parsons Pistol in the four-mile chase, I"m sure he will attract a lot of support around the Kinnegad area as he is owned by Robert Bagnall. It would be great to open with a win on Tuesday with Go Native in the first race, he came out of his Naas win in great shape and he has the ability to stay with the pace which is vital at Cheltenham. I have no riding plans finalised for the Champion Hurlde yet, Paul"s decision will be dictated by the ground and we will decide after that Outside of my own runners, Willie Mullins has to be the man to follow, he worked 20 horses at Leopardstown, that shows the strength of his team, especially Cousin Vinny. And how many runners will he have in the Champion Bumper, and which one will win? I"m also a big Kauto Star supporter. On the home front, ahead of Cheltenham, Fisher Bridge might be one to watch at Naas on Sunday and Right Or Wrong in a handicap hurdle. Visit Noel meade"s website: www.noelmeade.com