Meade stars to appear soon Harchibald could make his seasonal reappearance in the Castlebellingham Race at Dundalk on Friday. The Noel Meade-trained high-class dual purpose gelding has performed with credit on his two previous visits to the County Louth all-weather track, finishing first and second. The Navan handler intends campaigning his four-time Grade One-winning hurdler at the beginning and end of the season due to his dislike of winter ground. 'He might take his chance. He's going to do a bit of work tomorrow and we'll make our minds up after that,' said Meade. 'This year he's not going to run over hurdles in the deep ground. He usually starts off in the Tipperary Hurdle (won by Megans Joy on Sunday) but, whether he will be fit enough to run on Friday, we will see after he works. 'He just can't go through the soft and Dundalk has worked quite well for him before so we'd be happy for him to run there again.' Also among the 26 entries are a host of Aidan O'Brien-trained runners including New Zealand, second in the Irish St Leger, and Bashkirov, sixth in the Irish Derby. Tony Martin's Cesarewitch winner Leg Spinner, former Galway Hurdle winner Cloone River and Dermot Weld's Bobs Pride are also entered in the mile-and-a-half event. Meade's Aran Concerto looked to have the potential to go to the very top when he was last seen on a racecourse at the Cheltenham Festival of 2007, but an injury kept him off the track for the whole of last season. However, he is ready to return soon with a novice chase campaign earmarked to begin at the end of this month. 'His preparation has been good so far, and he went well when schooled over ten fences last week. Everything is going good with him at the moment and I'd say he might be ready to run at the end of month if things keep going right,' said Meade. 'He's won on soft and I'd rather run him on that than quick ground. He's a huge big horse with big feet so even though he's a beautiful mover he'd be happy enough on soft. 'He's done really well for his time off and he looks great at the minute. At this time of year we are keeping our fingers crossed for a few that everything keeps going right, but it's so far so good.'
