Clopf On Morgiana Mission

Clopf will step outside novice company for the first time over timber in Sunday's Maplewood Developments Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown.

Edward O'Grady's charge won a Grade One at the track back in April and according to his handler, the six-year-old was not at his best on that occasion.

'The interesting thing with him is that I don't think he was within a stone of himself when he won at the Punchestown Festival,' O'Grady said.

'He had won before that over a mile and six furlongs on the Flat, and won well.

'I had booked him in for a scan because I wanted to find out if there was anything wrong with the horse as he hadn't been right before Cheltenham.

'After Punchestown, it turned out he had a stress fracture of his humerus. We had to rest him for three months and he got very, very gross.

'While he looks fantastic at the moment and we've been doing as much as we can with him, he's still quite gross.'

Clopf had his first start since when finishing in mid-division in a well-contested Flat race at Galway at the end of October.

O'Grady was satisfied with what he saw on that occasion and is now looking forward to seeing his charge take on some smart horses, with Iktitaf and Macs Joy among the potential opposition.

'At Galway, he steamed down the hill like an absolute express train and got to the cusp of the hill and just blew up. If he'd have blown up earlier, he might have got a second wind,' O'Grady told At The Races.

'We've managed to get a bit of work into him and he's supposed to run on Sunday in the Morgiana at Punchestown.

'I expect he will run very well and I expect he will have a bit of improvement in him.'

Clopf's stablemate Sky's The Limit will not be seen in action on the same card.

The six-year-old won the Coral Cup despite shouldering joint top-weight in 2006, and had been under consideration for the Volkswagen Craddockstown Novice Chase.

He broke his duck over the larger obstacles with a smooth success earlier in the month and will now tackle the Drinmore Novices' Chase at Fairyhouse.

Reflecting on that victory, O'Grady said: 'I don't think the others necessarily ran up to their marks.

'But I couldn't have expected any more from my horse and it was the ideal comeback for him.

'I just wanted him to have one of those races to get a sweet taste in his mouth and he's come out of it really well.

'I was considering running him in the Craddockstown as he did it quite nicely, but I think I'll keep him for the Drinmore two weeks later now.'

(C) PA Sport