Cork preview Patrons travelling to Cork tomorrow are advised that traffic diversions are in place on both the Limerick and Mitchelstown roads to Mallow. People as a result should allow extra travel time. Meanwhile the long-absent Pont Alexandre has not made the final field for the CIT Rag Week Hurdle, but Willie Mullins is still represented by Aklan in the two-and-a-half-mile heat. Only three are due to face the starter and after having four engaged initially, Gigginstown House Stud now depend on Thunder Zone. It could well be, though, that Aklan and Thunder Zone will struggle to cope with Sadler's Risk. It is Cork Student Raceday at the Mallow venue and there's little doubt that likely favourite Sadler's Risk will get boisterous encouragement from the enclosures. Henry De Bromhead's charge was a most unfortunate loser at Punchestown on New Year's Eve, and having crossed the line a head in front of He'llberemembered, the Sadler's Wells gelding was found to have carried the incorrect weight and was therefore disqualified from first place. Andrew Lynch is again in the plate on Roger Brookhouse's 142-rated performer, and that mark gives him the edge on his opponents. Having said that, the healthy weight concession that Thunder Zone receives, allied to his rider Luke Dempsey's 5lb claim, means that things are not completely cut and dried. The second Willie Mullins participant on the programme, Roumanian, is a very unusual type for the stable in that the official assessor only has him on a lowly 80, although that is hardly surprising given that he is a nine-year-old maiden. However, his owner Patrick Mullins obviously saw enough in the lightly-raced French-bred to purchase him out of the Michael McDonogh yard. The son of Kapgarde is a half-brother to a couple of Grade One winners in France, and he was second in a point-to-point at the start of his career. Despite his unappealing form figures, the Danny Mullins-partnered Roumanian is taken to make a big impact on the Stay Classy Handicap Hurdle. The most valuable contest on the programme is the Don't Step On The Crest Handicap Hurdle, and this may be best left to Your Busy, who is nicely handicapped in this sphere and one of Ruby Walsh's three mounts on the day.
