Grade 1 Scilly Isles an option for Only By Night The Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown has emerged as a possible target for Only By Night after the mare missed an engagement at Thurles yesterday. The Gavin Cromwell-trained daughter of Affinisea has taken really well to fences this season winning a beginners chase at Tipperary in November and again jumping well to land the Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Order Of St George Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase at Cork last month. The seven-year-old was declared for another Grade 2 event at Thurles, the Carey Glass Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase, but was withdrawn after connections decided drying ground conditions were unsuitable. “We walked the track and thought it was just too lively. After Keith (Donoghue) rode Millforce (to win the previous novice hurdle) he said they were just barely knocking the top off it,” explained Cromwell. “She’s a big, heavy-shouldered mare and hits the ground hard. “There’s a Grade 1 in Sandown on Saturday week that we might give her an entry and also the Opera Hat the following week, so she’ll probably go to one or the other.”
