Alpha may revert to hurdles Alpha Ridge may seek a second consecutive victory in the Galmoy Hurdle after proving a disappointment over fences at Leopardstown last time. The Grade 2 event at Gowran last January was the last race Alpha Ridge won, although he was only just beaten by first China Rock and then Pandorama on his first two chases. However, he was only seventh to the latter in the Knight Frank Novice Chase on Monday. Trainer Paul Nolan said: "He seems fine, but he just didn't jump well enough. His jumping fell apart. You can put it down to the mistake he made down the back, but maybe he needs more testing ground to be just going that stride slower." "Certainly we will have to ask questions, but the twice he has run on a better surface, he has run poorly. He might just go back to the Galmoy at the end of January now." Nolan was a little happier with the effort of Noble Prince, third in the woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle. He continued: "It was a good run. We might have got a little bit of a rush of blood turning into the straight for a horse who hadn't run three miles before. Hopefully we can rectify it next time."
