Byrnes fears Binocular Charles Byrnes fears Binocular will be a major stumbling block to Solwhit continuing his winning streak in a red-hot renewal of the WBX.COM 'Fighting Fifth' Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday. Solwhit is unbeaten in 2009 and fresh from claiming the scalps of Muirhead and Hurricane Fly in the Punchestown Hurdle two weeks ago. However, Byrnes - whose runner took the scalp of reigning two-mile king Punjabi in May - admits to only being hopeful of the five-year-old maintaining his good run on Tyneside. "It's obviously a very good race. I'd be very fearful of Binocular. If he can produce his first run from last year I think he will be very hard to beat," said the County Limerick trainer. "They didn't do a very good time in Punchestown and he will have to improve to beat Binocular. "I'd just be hopeful. There's no way I'd be confident. I think Binocular ran below form in the Champion Hurdle." Solwhit's jockey Davy Russell feels his mount has a lot on his plate. "I'm looking forward to it. He's stepping up again from the last day. It's tough competition but hopefully he can cope with it," Russell said. "I've got my fingers crossed that he will be in the same kind of order as he was at Punchestown and that things will go according to plan. Hopefully it will all go well."
