Captain Cee Bee could take in Sunday’s Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary en route to a tilt at the Galway Plate.
The dual Grade One-winning 10-year-old ran an excellent third in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March and filled the same position at the Punchestown Festival at his latest start.
After being given a break, trainer Eddie Harty decided to bring his star turn back into training early with a view to running him in the highlight of the mid-summer festival at Galway.
“We’ve put him in the race to have a look and we’ll see what the ground does during the week,” Harty said.
“It’s just a tentative entry at this stage. It’s a good race and we thought we’d have a look at it as we might be kicking ourselves if we hadn’t entered him.
“He’s in great form at the moment. He had a nice break after Punchestown but we brought him back in a little while ago with the Galway Plate in mind.
“We’ll just have to see what happens between now and then. I don’t think he necessarily has to have a run, we’ll just feel our way.
“There are some good horses in the Plate this time. It’s probably as classy a race as it has been in a while.
“You’d have thought if you put a horse of his calibre in the race, he’d have been the topweight by a long way, but he’s not that far ahead of everything this year.”
This weekend’s contest has attracted plenty of other quality National Hunt performers with Won In The Dark, Muirhead, Jumbo Rio and The Real Article also featuring among the 15 possible runners.
PA AAP TURF
