A field of seven have been declared for the first hunter chase of the 2018/19 season, with the McCarthy Plant & Agri Sales Hunters Chase set to take place at Cork on Sunday afternoon and it is likely to be a wide-open contest.
Of the seven, the youngster Different Spot, is the only runner with a win under his belt already in the new campaign, with Enda Bolger’s five-year-old getting off the mark in good style at Loughrea last month under Ray Barron.
Bolger clearly holds the close relation to his star Cross Country performer, Spot Thedifference, in high regard, and as he elected to bypass winners’ races, when running the son of Stowaway in round two of the ITM Ladies Series at Moig South.
Different Spot was effectively brought down on the flat in the very earlier stages at the Limerick course and so little was learned, with Barron now back aboard for his first start in hunter chase company.
Gerry Kelleher’s Macs Legend was seen to good effect within the hunter chase sphere last spring, recording a brace of victories, at Tramore and Loughbrickland, and he will look to bring up the hat-trick on his seasonal reappearance.
Baily Fox and Carrignagapple are set to clash for the second time within the space of seven days having finished second and fourth in the Novice Riders Open at Ballinaboola on Sunday, whilst Alpha Male was last seen running out the comprehensive winner of the Bishopscourt Cup at the Punchestown Festival in the spring.
The line-up is completed by Bellharbour-second Glorious Galway, and Ruaidhri Tierney’s Sandycove Island, who was no match for Shawshank at Damma House a fortnight ago.
