Silver Jaro to go to Punchestown instead of Aintree
Shock County Hurdle winner Silver Jaro will miss the Grand National meeting in favour of Punchestown.
The five-year-old, who provided trainer Tom Hogan and jockey Noel Fehily with their maiden Cheltenham Festival wins, is on a much more favourable mark in his homeland.
As a result, Hogan has earmarked the valuable Ballymore 25th Anniversary Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival instead.
“It was very nice to win there for the owners, the Masterson family are very nice people and they put a lot in to the game,” said Hogan.
“It was nice for Noel and myself as well to finally get off the mark at the Festival.
“It wasn’t the plan to kick on so early because he has plenty of gears and we thought it would be soon enough to hit the front after the last.
“But the way the race unfolded Noel showed why he is a top-class jockey and found a Plan B.
“He is not a likely runner at Aintree though and he is more likely to wait for a two-and-a-half mile handicap at Punchestown.
“He went up 9lb. In Ireland he has a rating of 129 and in England he is 141 so it was not a difficult decision to skip Aintree.”
