Merdeka Favourite To Give Tom Taaffe A Troytown Double Merdeka trained by last years winning trainer Tom Taaffe has been installed as the 6-1 favourite with the sponsors to land this year's williamhill.ie Troytown chase. The talented seven year, who was once touted as a future Gold Cup winner, has been allotted a weight of 10s 10lbs for the three mile contest.Tony Martin's sole entrant Royal County Star, who has already been in the winners enclosure twice this season, is the second 7-1 second favourite, while Mattock Ranger, one of five possible runners from the Noel Meade yard is the 8-1 third favourite for Navan's showpiece race.Probably the most interesting entry in the line-up is the 2003 Hennessy winner Strong Flow, who is now trained by Dessie Hughes. The ten year old was given an official rating of 161 following his Hennessy triumph, but after two years on the side lines, the one time Gold Cup hopeful has dropped 21lbs, and will carry 11st 5lbs in this Sunday's contest. The sponsors rate the former Paul Nicholls in mate a 16-1 chance to return to winning ways at Navan his weekend.Other notable entries for the contest include the 2006 Powers Whiskey Irish Grand National winner Point Barrow, and Jessica Harrington's progressive mare Gazza's Girl.Tony Kenny from the sponsors commented 'It looks like a really competitive contest, and we're thrilled with the quality of the entries' He continued 'It was a tricky race to price up, but we believe that Merdeka is a worthy favourite for the race''I suppose the horse that everyone will be talking about is Strong Flow. He's been given a fighting chance off 11st 5lbs, and it will be very interesting to see if the punters latch on to this current 16-1 offering'Irish National Hunt Handicapper Noel O'Brien commented 'It looks like a very interesting renewals of one of the historic races on the Irish Racing Calendar' He continued 'I suppose the most difficult horse to assess in the race was Strong Flow. He was a Gold Cup class horse in the past, and his racecourse return at Down Royal seems to suggest that he still retains a lot of the ability that he showed between 2003 and 2005.'I thought a rating of 140 was a fair assessment of the horse at this stage of his career, but we'll probably know more about him after Sunday's big race'Williamhill.ie Troytown Chase (Sponsors bet) 6-1 Merdeka, 7-1 Royal County Star, 8-1 Mattock Ranger, 9-1 Gazza's Girl, 10-1 Baily Breeze, Well Tutored, 12-1 Benefit Night, Teeming Rain, 14-1 Chelsea Harbour, Homer Wells, Kerryhead Windfarm, Mister Top Notch, 16-1 Black Apalachi, Mecuric, News Item, Strong Flow, 20-1 Afistfullofdollars, Father Matt, Mister Month, Point Barrow, Sound Witness, 25-1 Dublin Hunter, Mac Three, Smugglers Song, 33-1 Lotomore Lad, Prince Of Tara, The Parishioner, Yarra Maguire, 50-1 Sea Diva, E/W ? 1-2-3-4 ? All 29 Quoted
