Hurricane Fly and Donnas Palm face a fascinating rematch in tomorrow’s paddypower.com Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.
The two clashed in last month’s Royal Bond at Fairyhouse with Willie Mullins’ Hurricane Fly just getting the better of Noel Meade’s grey by a neck.
Meade will be double-handed with Go Native also taking his chance and while he is hardly confident of turning the tables on Hurricane Fly, he is expecting Donnas Palm to run another big race.
“I’m not confident we can get the better of him by any means but if we can get a truer run race tomorrow, that will probably suit us better – although it will probably suit him better too,” said Meade.
“Whether we will get it or not is another thing, hopefully we will.
“Cousin Vinny (stablemate of Hurricane Fly) seemed to set the race up nicely for him last time.
“This time we have the extra runner in Go Native but he is a hold-up horse so we won’t be making the running with him. Paul (Carberry) even had to have a long, hard think about which one he was going to ride because Go Native is rapidly improving.
“We were surprised by how well Donnas Palm handled the bad ground before because he is by Great Palm and a lot of those need good ground.
“I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing that he has had a run since the Royal Bond but it was an easy race for him, he never came off the bridle.”
Go Native has won two of his three starts over hurdles and Meade believes he also holds sound claims.
“Go Native is a horse we always thought a lot of but when he ran in Galway he came home lame and took a long time to get right,” he added.
“He was another who surprised us by how well he handled the bad ground and is not without a chance.”
Tom Mullins runs the highly regarded Oscar Dan Dan but he blotted his copybook with a lacklustre effort at Cork last time.
Eddie Harty’s Baron De’l, Matthieu Palussiere’s Tramp Stamp and Jessica Harrington’s Zarinava complete the seven-runner line-up.