Walsh happy with Blackstair Jockey Ruby Walsh reports Blackstairmountain in top order as they bid for glory in Saturday's Pegasus Jump Stakes at Nakayama racecourse in Japan. Willie Mullins' eight-year-old is the sole foreign raider in the two-mile-one-furlong race after warming up for his trip with a hurdles outing at Leopardstown earlier this month. A Grade One winner over fences in 2011, Blackstairmountain has not run in a chase since finishing third in the Galway Plate last August, with Mullins switching to hurdles for his Japanese preparation. Walsh has made the trip to the Far East to ride Mullins' charge, who will start from the outside in 12 as the race is started from stalls. "He's close to his best condition," Walsh told www.japanracing.jp. "Although not strongly, we did five laps on the dirt course. He enjoyed the exercise and felt very good. "It's been two weeks since the last time I rode him and he's in the same good form." Blackstairmountain faces 12 rivals in the Grade Three contest, with Sanrei Duke and Irish-bred Rendir among the best of those. The race is usually seen as a prep for the world's richest steeplechase, the Nakayama Grand Jump, back at the track next month.
