3.30 1m. 7f. 101yds. 9 Declared. Paddy Power Road To Cheltenham Hcap Hdle of €14,500.00 4-y-o
1st - €8,700.00 2nd - €2,900.00 3rd - €1,450.00 4th - €725.00 5th - €435.00 6th - €290.00
FormscanBy Tom Weekes - Last Sunday's Navan hero Hugh Morgan again teams up with owner Liam Mulryan and trainer Denis Hogan with ZOFFANIEN and has solid claims. ZOFFANIEN has shown good and consistent form in his five hurdle runs thus far and having finished second in a useful rated contest (which has produced the winners of the last two Fred Winter Hurdles) here recently, contests today's race from a 2lbs higher mark but with Morgan claiming a valuable 5lbs. Awkwafina beat the selection when causing a 100/1 upset to win at Limerick over Christmas and is clearly a contender. Awkwafina was subsequently well beaten in a hot winners' race at Fairyhouse last month and while the form is strong with runner-up Druid's Altar winning subsequently, ZOFFANIEN did get slightly closer to Druid's Altar here at Naas 15 days ago, indicating ZOFFANIEN might have an edge. Peckham Springs was himself a useful flat performer who has since progressed nicely in two hurdle runs, winning at Fairyhouse in December. He beat today's rival Toughari then and with further progression to be expected, should get involved at the business end.
An extended handicap hurdle for four years old only (123 = 11st 7lbs)Weights - Top weight in the original handicap and after the time of declaration shall not be less than 11st 7lbs and the minimum weight shall not be less than 9st 12lbsPenalties - Winner of a hurdle race after calculation of the handicap shall carry 5lb extra for each hurdle race won.