Smith heading to Fairyhouse with Flaming Moon Matt Smith has his eye on a valuable handicap at Fairyhouse this weekend for his talented dual-purpose performer Flaming Moon. A dual winner and Listed-placed on the Flat, the Born To Sea gelding got off the mark over hurdles when landing a Listed novice hurdle at the Galway festival in July but was disappointing when tried over 2m4f at Cheltenham last month. The five-year-old was a late defection from the For Auction Novice Hurdle at Navan a fortnight ago. "The Grade A handicap Hurdle at Fairyhouse (4th December) would possibly be the one for him," said Smith. "I was hoping we would have got a run into him at Navan (coughing) and we would have seen how that would have gone. That's why he got the entry in the Grade 1 (Royal Bond). It would probably be a bit ambitious to go for that now having not run in Navan. "He was too keen in Cheltenham and just took off on him and he was never going to get home especially over the further trip. Obviously, Bryan (Cooper) got injured that weekend and was stood down and Sam (Twiston-Davies) rode him and just didn't know him. "He's a horse with ability. He missed Navan, but he is fine and is back working away. We will probably go to Fairyhouse with him." Flaming Moon is rated 124 and will be making his handicap debut in this sphere if lining up on Sunday. Additional reporting by Michael Graham
