Irish Champion Hurdle target for Harchibald

What a fantastic Christmas present to receive last Friday. Harchibald winning the big race at Kempton Park on St Stephen"s Day. It"s the sort of thing you might read about in one of those fairytales - two trips to England and the racing was abandoned, then on the third occasion, and against all the odds, he steamrolled the opposition. We were all very happy with him last week, he worked well and everyone was confident beforehand. When they jumped off and went a real good gallop, straight away that was a big help. When Punjabi and Straw Bear got into a tussle for the lead, that was another boost for us. Going down the back he was going very well, Paul Carberry told me that Harchibald actually frightened him because he stood way off at a few hurdles - it takes a lot to give Paul a fright of any sort. He gained a couple of lengths at every flight. He pinged the third last and landed right up their tails, he"s much better over jumps than on the flat, his jumping is a real bonus. Paul was tracking Barry Geraghty and Punjabi as we had decided that he was the main danger. Luckily, Paul saw a good stride going to the second last and edged out from behind Barry which was just as well as he avoided him. Barry said his horse just missed it and as he was going so fast that it knocked Punjabi. That wasn"t the end of the drama either as Harchibald hit the last. He hasn"t done something like that before, I only noticed it when I watched a replay in slow motion. He stepped right into it and got away with it, he came home very sore, but he should recover in time for the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown and then it will be all-systems-go for the big one at Cheltenham, if the ground is suitable. We had even considered sending him over fences if he didn"t win at Kempton, but that"s an option we can delay for the immediate future. As I"ve always maintained, the ground is what determines Harchibald"s performance, take last year"s race as an example. The ground was tacky and he was never travelling with the same fluency as he was last Friday. I wasn"t able to go racing anywhere, I"m still on the road to recovery, but there was a fair bit of shouting at the television over the weekend. And it wasn"t confined to Harchibald"s race. What about Paul"s performance on Realt Dubh on Saturday? My heart was in my mouth watching it on the television, he was my banker for Christmas and I suppose all I can say is that he won. When questioned about the race afterwards, Paul maintained that he was always going well and just didn"t pick them up as quickly as he thought. The fact that the hurdle in the home straight was removed for safety reasons meant there was a long run in from what is usually the second last. Certainly not a good race for anyone with a heart problem, but he got there. When a jockey wins a race like that he is a genius, if you lose, well, you wouldn"t be too popular. Realt Dubh is owned by Des Sharkey"s son, Des owns Harchibald and also had a runner in the race, there might have been some private bets struck, but overall it was a good weekend for the Sharkey family on the racing front. Then on Sunday, we had that 25/1 winner in Casey Jones. He wouldn"t have been in the race if we didn"t think he had a chance and I"ve always thought a lot of him. We let him run because the ground was drying up all the time and we couldn"t work out why he ran so badly the last time at Fairyhouse, where he pulled up. We checked him thoroughly after that race, we even got a physio for him and a chiropractor, but we couldn"t find any problems. Trafford Lad won that Fairyhouse race, but on Sunday we turned that form upside down, the main factor with Casey Jones is good ground, he stays well and is a good jumper, as he showed on Sunday. I was also pleased with Watson Lake, he fought like a tiger and would be better on soft ground, it just shows that sometimes you just can"t win with the ground. That was a good bumper in Leopardstown on Sunday as well, I think my horse, Roches Point, is very good, yet he has run three times and hasn"t won. The first two times he was beaten by the ground and on Sunday it was ideal, but he was beaten by a very good horse trained byTom Mullins, Deise Dan. His connections think the world of him and there was only a nod of a head between them. I was disappointed with Donnas Palm in the Future Champions novices hurdle, but maybe that so-called effortless win at Navan before Christmas took more out of him that we thought? Paul wanted to ride Go Native, but eventually settled on Donnas Palm which will improve enormously on that run anyway. But you must remember that the winner of the race, Hurricane Fly is an exceptionally good horse. If he ran in the Champion Hurdle he"d have a chance, never mind a novice hurdle. It was nice to finish off the Leopardstown Christmas Festival with a double on Monday and I was delighted for Luke McNiff when he won the opening race with Cleni Boy as he deserved a bit of luck. Looking ahead to 2009, I would hope to make a good start and Kandari might be the one to follow in the opening race at Fairyhouse on Thursday. He"s a big strong horse and he stays well, he will make a nice chaser in time. He ran a good second in a maiden hurdle at Gowran Park last month behind Quiscover Fontaine which won again at Limerick last Friday for Willie Mullins. That certainly was a boost to the form and hopefully my fellow might win and get the new year off to a good start. Naas on Sunday could see Fisher Bridge in action, but he mightn"t get the trip. I may consider sending Sky Hall for the Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown next week. As for 2008, my own highlights were Jered winning the champion novice at Punchestown and then he was voted the top novice of the year. Harchibald winning last week would also be a highlight. Outside of that, New Approach winning the Epsom Derby for Jim Bolger, that was a marvellous achievement. Visit Noel Meade"s website: www.noelmeade.com