The Gold Cup flop, Florida Pearl, will try and pick up his second big English pot of the season in Liverpool's Martell Cup - but only if he convinces Willie Mullins he is back to his best. Mullins is carrying out tests on a number of his Cheltenham horses and is convinced that the majority of his festival team ran below par.
"Half a dozen of them disappointed me, including Florida Pearl and Alexander Banquet in the Gold Cup. We are checking them all out. Horses that I thought were real well going there didn't show their form," Mullins said yesterday.
"If I am satisfied with him, Florida Pearl will go for the Martell Cup and there should be enough time afterwards for him to take in the Heineken Cup at the Punchestown festival too.
"Alexander Banquet is likely to go for the National and if the ground is soft, he could take in the Heineken as well. But it depends on what we find in the tests," he added.
Satcoslam can provide Barry Geraghty with yet another black type victory at Limerick today ahead of his fight to keep the prized Grand National ride on Alexander Banquet.
The jockey has lodged an appeal to the Jockey Club against the 12-day ban he picked up under the non-trier rule on the Martin Pipe-trained Magnus in the Coral Eurobet Cup.
The suspension keeps him out of the Irish National at Fairyhouse and also the Aintree National.
In the meantime today's listed novice chase looks a good opportunity for Satcoslam, who should benefit for the hike up to three miles. Last time it was just two miles when Geraghty's mount ran second to the former high-class hurdler Mantles Prince at Navan.
Geraghty's brother Ross can also hit the winning spot in the handicap hurdle courtesy of Rumson Way, who ran a good third at Naas to Rapid Deployment.
It would be unwise to read too much into Colnel Rayburn's length and a half second to Pizarro at Naas last time but it would be silly to ignore it too in the context of the Limerick bumper.
The bumper could hold the bet of the day at Wexford, where Rob The Five can break his duck. A Gowran hurdle second to Jenniferjo looks too good for these.
