O'Grady maps out plans for Westerner Westerner Point is set to return to the smaller obstacles at Thurles next week in a bid to complete his hat-trick. The Eoghan O'Grady-trained eight-year-old opened his account for the campaign when winning a thrilling contest at Cork in November and defied a rise in the weights to land the valuable Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at Limerick over Christmas. O'Grady is keen to exploit Westerner Point's significantly lower mark over hurdles in County Tipperary. He said: "Westerner Point will run on Thursday week in a handicap hurdle at Thurles. "He will then go back over fences for either the Carrickmines Handicap Chase at Leopardstown on March 5th or the Shamrock Handicap Chase at Gowran on March 11th. They are both Grade B races. "He will run at Thurles just to keep him ticking over really, before he goes for one of those races in March." The Mallow-based handler also provided an update on Mick The Jiver, who was runner-up at Cork on Saturday. "Mick The Jiver is in great form after the weekend. I'm not sure what we are going to do with him." said O'Grady. "He might go for the novice handicap chase (Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Handicap Chase Final) at Navan on March 19th over three miles. "I'd be hoping that the ground would be slightly better by then and he might like that."
