Astre an interesting contender in Down Royal feature Trainer Stuart Crawford is looking forward to seeing Astre De La Cour make his racecourse debut for the yard in the Daily Mirror Handicap Chase at Down Royal on Monday. The eight-year-old won three times over hurdles and once over fences when trained in Britain by Robert Walford, including a lucrative success at Aintree’s Grand National meeting in 2015. He has not run under rules for well over a year, but did finish third in a point-to-point in February on his first start since being snapped up for 36,000 pounds by Crawford last November. “We bought him with a view to running him in point-to-points and going down the hunter chase route, but with the wet spring we had we ran out of time to get him qualified for one of the hunter chases at the spring Festivals,” said the County Antrim-based handler. “We were half thinking of running him in the Foxhunters’ at Aintree, but obviously that didn’t work out and we decided we’d try to pick a few races for him during the summer instead. “He’s lightly raced and hopefully we’ll find out a bit more about him on Monday. “He’s a fresh horse and it’s a nice starting point for him.” Astre De La Cour concedes weight to each of his 10 rivals in the E20,000 feature. His opponents include Adrian Keatley’s Drumconnor Lad, the John Ryan-trained Draycott Place and Tisamystery from Henry de Bromhead’s yard. The main event over the smaller obstacles is the E17,000 Belfast Live Hurdle. Just five runners go to post and Crawford saddles consistent mare Ardean Lass. He added: “She has a bit to do on the ratings, but there’s a lack of opportunities for her at the moment. “We’ve taken her across the water a few times and she ran well at Down Royal a couple of starts back. “It’s a small field and we’ll let her take her chance.” Moonshine Bay, Tourboy, The Conditional and Baily Moon complete the line-up.
