McNally has mixed news on his stable stars Ronan McNally has enjoyed plenty of success in recent weeks with the likes of Vee Dancer and All Class but the Armagh trainer has varying news about two of his stable stars. The Jam Man has been a prolific winner for his owner/trainer over a number of years with two big pay-days at Navan when landing the eCOMM Merchant Solutions Handicap Hurdle and the Ladbrokes Troytown Handicap Chase. The eight-year-old son of Papul Bull shaped well on his return to Navan earlier this month when staying on into fourth behind Commander Of Fleet in the valuable Bective Stud Handicap Hurdle and could run at Leopardstown next week. “The Jam Man ran a cracker at Navan the last day. He’s come out of the race in great form and might go for the Pertemps Qualifier at Leopardstown (on Tuesday December 28). If he did qualify it would leave the Pertemps at Cheltenham an option,” said McNally. “I would like to try him in an Irish National. He was entered in it last year but the horses were wrong. I’d like to try one of those really big races with him. “His last run over fences was winning the Troytown and it seemed to turn him inside out. The next day we try him over fences it will be something decent.” However, he is not so positive about Dreal Deal who ran up a sequence of six consecutive wins on the Flat and over hurdles last season. The six-year-old Arvico gelding came with a typical run from off the pace to land the Grade 2 Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in January but has disappointed on both outings since including when switched to fences at Navan earlier this month. “Dreal Deal hasn’t come out of the race well at Navan and has been very quiet in himself. He hasn’t sparked at all this year so we gave him a run hoping it would liven him up but it’s probably done the opposite — he’s a wee bit quiet in himself. “We are investigating everything to see what is going on with him. We’ll get him right and it wasn’t the rear Dreal Deal that you saw the last day.”
