Lieutenant to wear blinkers in Gold Cup First Lieutenant is set to wear blinkers for the first time in public as he bids to win his first race in over a year. The Mouse Morris-trained nine-year-old, who last got his head in front in the Betfred Bowl last April, goes for the Bibby Financial Services Ireland Punchestown Gold Cup on Wednesday. Even though he has not been successful of late, First Lieutenant has been placed in four Grade One chases this term and connections are hoping the use of headgear will do the trick. "First Lieutenant has been knocking on the door recently and he will go for the Punchestown Gold Cup," said Eddie O'Leary, racing manager for owners Gigginstown House Stud. "We will probably run him in blinkers as he could be getting a bit cute. In the same race we might also run Bog Warrior, who is very ground dependant, but he also has the option of the Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle." Gigginstown will have a powerful team for the five-day Festival at the County Kildare venue with Grand Annual victor Savello getting his chance in Grade One company in the Boylesports.com Champion Chase on Tuesday. The Gordon Elliott-trained Tiger Roll, winner of the Triumph Hurdle, could renew rivalry with the third that day, subsequent Aintree scorer Guitar Pete, in the AES Champion Four Year Old Hurdle on Saturday week. The Willie Mullins-trained Don Poli has a choice of the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle on Wednesday and the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on Friday. "There's a possibility we could run Savello in the Champion Chase, he probably deserves his chance in a race like that," continued O'Leary. "Tiger Roll will run in the Grade One. He's a nice, very unexposed horse, and we hope that going forward we should see more improvement given that Cheltenham was only his third ever run. So we would hope he is still improving. We'll meet Guitar Pete again, and he is a very good horse, so it should be a great race. "I haven't spoken to Willie about the races but the plan is for Don Poli to run. He was very impressive at Cheltenham but I wouldn't get carried away by that. He won a handicap and still has a mountain to climb going into Grade One company. But he is a nice horse who is going to make a good staying chaser." Very Wood, winner of the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham for trainer Noel Meade, is being aimed at the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle, while Grade Two winner Real Steel could line up in the two-mile Herald Champion Novice Hurdle on Tuesday. O'Leary said: "Very Wood is a nice horse and deserves to take his chance again. Whatever he does over hurdles is a bonus because he is going to be a nice staying chaser as well. Real Steel could go for the two-mile novice hurdle." The Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle line-up could include Lieutenant Colonel, a 10-length winner at Fairyhouse on April 6, and Valseur Lido, an easy Grade Two victor the same day. "Valseur Lido is a nice horse, he had an interrupted prep for Cheltenham so it was good to see him come back from that," said O'Leary. Gigginstown's novice chasing team is set to include Don Cossack in the Growise Champion Novice Chase on Tuesday and Trifolium in the Ryanair Novice Chase on Thursday. "Don Cossack ran very well at Aintree last time," said O'Leary. "He was beaten by what was obviously a very good horse of Jonjo O'Neill's (Holywell) and without him he would have been a decent winner. He has more to find again but I think he's a better horse kept busy. "Trifolium is a much better horse on a soft surface so we hope for plenty of rain for him. He'll probably go for the two-mile novice."
