Muirhead on target for Hennessy Noel Meade is happy with Muirhead ahead of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday. The eight-year-old was well beaten at Ascot last time, when finishing eighth behind Exmoor Ranger in the United House Gold Cup, but the Co. Meath handler believes he has a valid excuse for that run. "He seems very well. He was going to run a good race at Ascot last time and then he ran into the faller," said Meade. He added, "He was certainly booked for a place at Ascot, Paul (Carberry) said he was anyway, he thought he was going well enough to have a big chance. "The ground looks like it's going to be okay for him and he did a very nice piece of work on Tuesday." Muirhead was a Grade 1 winner as a novice hurdler and was rated as high as 158 over timber - 12lbs higher than his chase rating of 146 that he runs off on Saturday. Meade is hopeful that he remains well-handicapped over fences, but is worried that the race might come a bit too soon for him. He continued: "I'm just a little bit concerned about the fact he ran at Ascot as he's not an easy horse to train, he's a very light horse and it's hard to keep weight on him. "He did lose a bit of weight at Ascot and he came back a bit lighter so I had to be easy on him in between times. "But he did seem to work very well and I'm happy with him. As long as the ground is no worse than good-to-soft for him he should be okay."
