Glen Beg© Photo Healy Racing
Glen Beg is reported to be in top form as she tries to improve on her recent Aintree third in the bragbet.com Handicap Hurdle on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival.
Liz Doyle 's runner was beaten just over five lengths at the Grand National meeting, with winner Court Minstrel going on to finish second to Cockney Sparrow in the Scottish Champion Hurdle.
Glen Beg already has wins at Navan and Naas in the bag this season and Doyle expects her to put up another bold show.
She said: "She is in as good a form as she has been in the last two or three months. She looks great, I'm really happy with her and it was a really good effort from her in Aintree. The winner since franked the form in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, so you can't really pick holes in the form.
"I think I have her in the same order, and I think she goes there with every chance of being in the money, so I am really, really hopeful for her, she has been in a great vein of form.
"I don't think the ground will be of concern. It was the soft side of good at Aintree, we have schooled her on good, good to yielding at home and she floats on it, so I think it will be OK. I don't think it will be a disadvantage to her anyway." The Game Changer also ran at Aintree, finishing eighth behind Josses Hill in the Grade Two Top Novices' Hurdle. Charlie Swan lowers his sights for this event, though, and will also equip his charge with a first-time hood.
He said: "He is very well, he is in good form. He had a rough old passage at Liverpool going to the second-last, so hopefully if he has a bit of luck he should run a good race.
"He will love the ground and he has won around the track. I expect him to go well and I will be disappointed if he is not there or thereabouts. It is good to have Davy (Russell) on board, he knows the horse well and he has won on him twice." Dalasiri is another who will be sporting headgear for the first time as Sabrina Harty has opted to apply cheek pieces. The five-year-old was last seen finishing down the field on the Flat at Dundalk in March and his previous outing over hurdles produced only a mediocre effort when sixth at Fairyhouse in February.
Harty said: "He seems in good form now, he has had an in and out season. He has had trouble with a lung infection, so we are hoping that he will come back to himself.
"We have cheekpieces on him for the first time just to keep his concentration - we actually don't think he really needs them. He seems to like Punchestown, and if he is healthy he will run a big race. Andrew Lynch usually rides him but he has to ride for the Potts', so Tom (Scudamore) was available. If he is back to himself he will run a good race, but if not, he will probably have a holiday."
James Nash will be double-handed as he runs both Massini's Trap and Star Of Aragon Massini's Trap was well beaten behind Glen Beg at Aintree and was only fifth on the level at Limerick last Saturday, but he makes a swift reappearance here.
Nash said: "He was a little bit disappointing the other day at Limerick in a Flat race, and he just seems to be a better hurdler. He came out of the race fine, it is a big pot and we are just letting him take his chance."
Star Of Aragon would appear to have more of a chance after finishing fourth in a fair Leopardstown event won by Art Of Payroll on his most recent outing at Leopardstown in March.
Nash said: "He has run creditably over the winter and he will prefer this ground. He has a lovely racing weight of 9st 11lb after Tom (Doran's) claim and we are hoping he will run well."
