© Photo Healy Racing
Jockey Davy Russell is looking forward to renewing his partnership with Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere at Leopardstown on Sunday and is hopeful that the nine-year-old can improve on his Lexus Chase outing at the same track.
The Youghal native has admitted that he is considering tweaking the tactics that proved so successful on board the Jim Culloty-trained gelding 11 months ago, in the wake of a disappointing finish in the Lexus Chase at Christmas.
"It's very hard to say that you're using a Grade One, an Irish Gold Cup, as a prep race" said Russell on irishracing.com podcast, Talking Horses. "He'll be going all-guns-blazing to win it Sunday.
"The one thing we don't want to do is empty the tank and leave it up in Leopardstown. It stood to us last year that we didn't do that. Going to the second-last, if he's there with a shout, he'll be going hard to win the Hennessy.
"The last day I rode him at Leopardstown, I probably dropped him in a little bit too far. I over-exaggerated it a bit on the ground. It was very tacky and I couldn't get past horses.
"Hopefully the ground will be a little bit drier Sunday and we may try to ride him a little closer as long as the horse is happy doing that but again, we tried it last year and it didn't work. So we'll just have to see and play it by ear."
In a wide-ranging interview given on the show, which is broadcast live on Racing FM, Russell also discussed his hopes for Silver Concorde and La Vent D'Antan on Sunday, the reason behind his famous Cheltenham celebration, the difficulties of being a freelance in the current environment, his recent television punditry and his charity work.
Listen to the full show https://soundcloud.com/irishracing-com/talking-horses-4th-feburary-2015
