Cheltenham remains the target for Affordale Fury

Noel Meade hopes to get Affordale Fury to the Cheltenham Gold Cup despite being pulled up lame in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.

Winner of the Savills Chase at the Dublin track at Christmas, the eight-year-old was running well at the head of the field before weakening dramatically four fences from home.

He was then pulled up after the third-last as he dropped right out of contention, but after being assessed by his veterinary team Meade is confident he will be able to take his place in the Prestbury Park showpiece.

Muscle Issue Blamed For Poor Show

Meade said: “He was lame. He pulled a little muscle on the inside of his hind leg. Obviously he made a little bit of a mistake, not much, a little bit and it must have hurt him straight away because the minute he landed he was done.

“He was quite lame after the race. He’s not as bad this morning. He seems a little bit better. We’ve had the vets with him and hopefully it won’t hold him up too long, it’s just a bit of soft-tissue damage. So it just depends on how long it takes to heal.

“He was going well and jumping well, and jumping very straight. They were going a fair gallop, but we know he’s better than that no matter what, (so) there had to be something wrong.

“We scoped him after the race and he was 100 per cent clean but was lame and he was lame when he came home and he was lame when we loaded him into his box, so presumably that’s what happened to him.”

“If we can get him back on-song he’s definitely going to the Gold Cup.”