Dai Bando has Leopardstown target The Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting is the likely next port of call for Dai Bando following another fine run at Fairyhouse last weekend. A fair sort on the Flat for Patrick Prendergast, the son of Montjeu made a winning start over obstacles for 32-year-old trainer Ross O'Sullivan at Punchestown in October, before filling the runner-up spot at Down Royal a fortnight later. He stepped up in class for last Sunday's Grade Three Bar One Racing Juvenile Hurdle and although he was no match for the Willie Mullins-trained Triumph Hurdle favourite Kalkir, he was clearly best of the rest. O'Sullivan is hoping another bold show from his stable star could set him up for a potential trip to the Cheltenham Festival in the spring. The Curragh handler said: "He seems to be improving the whole time and we were delighted with him the other day. "Just for a stride or two I was getting excited, but then Willie's horse quickened away from us. It was still a very good run. "The plan is to go to Leopardstown on St Stephen's day. Willie's horse will probably be there again, but it's just great to have a runner at a meeting like that and if we can finish second to Willie again, we'll be happy. "If all goes well at Christmas, I suppose you'd start looking towards Cheltenham. He'll be entered for the two races - the Triumph Hurdle and the Fred Winter - and we'll see where we are nearer the time. "He hasn't got a mark yet and I'd say you'll need a rating of nearly 130 to get into the Fred Winter, so we'll see. "He does have a bit of a kink. Andrew McNamara says he isn't ungenuine, he just keeps a bit for himself. "I know he was highly regarded as a Flat horse and I think the jumping maybe just keeps him that bit sweeter. He definitely has a lot of class. "I'm only a young trainer starting out with 15 or 16 horses, so he's a real flagship horse for the yard. "It's very competitive in Ireland with a smaller group of owners, so you need a horse like him to get your name in the papers and make people take notice."
