RACING: Tony McCoy will ride the Tony Mullins-trained Supreme Developer in next week's Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.
The booking of the British champion jockey was confirmed yesterday for the highly rated horse that won his sole start at Fairyhouse in January.
"I would have been quite happy to have Charlie (Swan) on the horse but I wasn't sure what the situation was with Charlie and Kickham. I could have lost both Tony and Charlie, so I went for Tony while he was available," Mullins said.
Supreme Developer is a 7 to 1 shot for the Bumper with Powers, and his stable companion, The Galway Man, is just a point longer for the race.
However, Mullins added: "The Galway Man will not go unless the ground at Cheltenham is soft. If it isn't, he'll run at Limerick instead on St Patrick's Day. But if it does come up soft at the festival, he is still there to go." Instead, The Baltimore Man will be added to Mullins's Cheltenham team if as expected the going for the festival turns good. The opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle will be the target for that horse.
The big mover in the ante-post market for the Bumper yesterday was the Edward O'Grady-trained Back In Front, who is now a 7 to 1 shot. But the O'Grady horses were making the headlines yesterday for different reasons.
A report yesterday morning quoted jockey Philip Fenton as saying a clash between Istabraq and Ned Kelly in the Champion Hurdle was unlikely because the latter would not run.
O'Grady's horses have been the subject of much speculation after some of them were found to have runny noses last month.
However, the trainer said on RTE radio yesterday afternoon: "Ned Kelly did his all but one final workout and worked very well. We were very pleased with him.
"Yesterday, I thought I would possibly have 10 runners at Cheltenham. In 24 hours I'm probably down to seven, among them Ned Kelly, who is still a runner. If something untoward were to happen, obviously then it would be less than seven."
Festival hints will be few and far between at today's Tramore fixture but it can supply a couple of winners for Barry Geraghty.
The Jessica Harrington string are running into form at the right time and that can see Elliptic home in the mares maiden hurdle, while Geraghty can also strike on Shvera in the handicap hurdle.
Nicky Henderson has confirmed that Mick Fitzgerald will ride Bacchanal in the Gold Cup.
