Istabraq Festival Hurdle preview Jessica Harrington hopes Oscars Well can take revenge on Thousand Stars in the Istabraq Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown this afternoon. Her charge was a little over five lengths behind Willie Mullins' favourite at Punchestown last time, but the trainer feels he might be able to bridge the gap. "Hurricane Fly might not be there but it is still a really hot race, as you would expect," said Harrington. "I'm very happy with my horse and he's in good form. I think he'll appreciate this better ground and he starts to come to himself at this time of year. "Hopefully he can get closer to Thousand Stars this time. If he finishes second to him again, he'll have run a hell of a race." Harrington also saddles outsider Gimli's Rock, and added: "He will love the ground and I know he's got a bit to find on the ratings, but I'm very happy with him at the moment and he's a good horse on his day." The Edward O'Grady-trained The Real Article comes back to the minimum trip having placed third in the two-and-a-half-mile Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse. The trainer said: "I hope coming back to two miles will suit him. It's going to be a great race and I'm very hopeful." John Hanlon's Luska Lad was only beaten a couple of lengths into third in this race 12 months ago and a repeat performance would delight his trainer. "It's a very good race but we thought we'd let him take his chance," said Hanlon. "The plan had been to go chasing with him but he had a fall when we were schooling and I thought it might be best to give him a run back over hurdles first to get his confidence up. "He ran a cracker in this race last year and if he does the same again I'd be delighted. He goes on any ground and I just want to get a nice run into him before he goes chasing." Last season's Triumph Hurdle runner-up Unaccompanied impressed on her latest appearance at Naas and Stan Cosgrove, racing manager for owners Moyglare Stud, would like to see some rain at Leopardstown to aid her cause. He said: "She's in flying form and was good in Naas, but she is a filly who wants softer ground and it is drying out at Leopardstown at the moment. "She did at least handle better ground at Cheltenham, so hopefully she'll be all right, but we'd be glad of some rain."
