Fishers crosses the Irish Sea for Galmoy Leading owner JP McManus fires a twin assault on Thursday's John Mulhern Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park, with retained rider Barry Geraghty siding with the Rebecca Curtis-trained British challenger At Fishers Cross over Tony Martin's Noble Emperor. At Fishers Cross makes his first appearance since finishing fourth in last season's World Hurdle and Curtis expects her charge to need the run. She said: "He had some work done at Martinstown over the summer and didn't come back to us until October. "I never expect too much from him first time out. He's just one of those horses that takes a run, mentally as much as anything. "As we all know he's a fragile horse, so fingers crossed we can keep him sound." Briar Hill is sent back to the track by Willie Mullins for the first time since falling in the Boyne Hurdle at Navan last February. Big-race jockey Ruby Walsh admits it has been a struggle with the eight-year-old ever since he suffered a nasty injury when falling in the 2014 Albert Bartlett. Walsh told Racing UK: "Unfortunately he broke a bone in his face when he fell at Cheltenham and had to have an operation to sort it out. "It has been tough for him ever since. It was a stop-start year for him last year and then he fell again in Navan when I thought he was going to give Dedigout a race in the Boyne Hurdle, but he fell at the last. "It has taken us 11 months to get him back on the track again. He seems to be well at home, he's working well, but there's no doubt he'll improve for the run. "He's ready to have a run and hopefully he can come back to something like he was."
