'He's a classy animal' - Corbetts Cross and Feronily have Down Royal dates says Emmet Mullins

Emmet Mullins is planning to unleash two of his biggest names at Down Royal later this week with Corbetts Cross set to tackle fences for the first time on Friday and Feronily on course for a crack at the Grade 2 racingtv.com/freetrial Chase 24 hours later.

Only Gaelic Warrior is shorter than Corbetts Cross in Brown Advisory Novices' Chase markets with the JP McManus-owned six-year-old 10-1 second favourite with Paddy Power.

He has not been seen since running out through the wing of the final hurdle in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March when holding every chance, but is one of 16 entries in the Eventco Marquees Ltd Beginners Chase at Down Royal on Friday.

Mullins said: "Corbetts Cross is ready to start back. He's a classy animal and came from the point-to-point sphere, so hopefully jumping won't be a problem for him."

Among the potential challengers to Corbetts Cross are a whole host of classy sorts trained by Gordon Elliott. American Mike, Found A Fifty and Saint Felicien all feature in the entries in a race that has been won by the likes of Samcro, Envoi Allen and Mighty Potter in recent years.

Feronily proved a bitter disappointment on his return at Galway last month when a beaten odds-on favourite in a three-runner race won by My Design, who was rated 27lb lower than him.

Mullins expects an improved showing on Saturday, although he does feel the 2m3f trip will be on the short side for a horse who won his Grade 1 at the Punchestown festival over 3m½f.

Corbetts Cross: seen winning over hurdles at Fairyhouse in January in the colours of Paul ByrneCredit: Patrick McCann

The trainer said: "The plan is to run Feronily in the chase for second-season novices on Saturday. I think he has come on a lot for that race at Galway. The trip might be a bit sharp for him, but the conditions of the race suit him and it looks a nice place for him to go next."

Corbetts Cross was purchased by McManus from Paul Byrne last season, while Feronily followed the same path this term.

The Grade 3 Bottlegreen Hurdle on Friday, which was won by Jezki in 2013 before he went on to win the Champion Hurdle later that season, has attracted seven entries and the clash between Irish Point and Magical Zoe remains on the cards. The other five entered are David Garrick, Fizzle Rock, I Don't Get It, Media Naranja and Sir Allen.

Elliott has ten of the 24 entries for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden Hurdle, which opens the card on Friday, and among them are Firefox, My Trump Card and No Time To Wait.

Down Royal was unfit for racing last Friday, so its two-day fixture was postponed for a week but no problems are anticipated for the rescheduled fixture.

The going on Monday was yielding to soft, soft in places on both tracks and the forecast is for it to stay mainly dry through the week with a chance of some passing showers. No more than 10mm of rain is expected before racing on Friday.

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