Casey out to end Irish jinx

Casey Jones will look to break the Irish hoodoo in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury this weekend.

The last Irish raider to win the race was Michael O'Brien's Bright Highway was the most recent Hennessy victor from those shores in 1980.

Willie Mullins' Be My Royal looked to have ended the drought back in 2002 but subsequently lost the race after testing positive for a banned substance.

Irish hopes this year look to be largely shouldered by Grade One-winning novice Casey Jones who arrives on the back of a fair fourth in the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal.

"He's in good shape. He had a long trip over, they went last night and didn't arrive until early this morning but he travelled well and he's in good shape I think," explained trainer Noel Meade.

"The course and distance could suit us but the one thing that could be against us is if the ground got really heavy. English soft is OK but if it got sticky and heavy, that would be against him.

"He ran well in Down Royal but got lost in the heavy ground down the back and got left on his own a bit.

"I thought he was going to be second turning in but he got a bit tired in the straight. That run will have brought him on.

"I certainly hope he'll run a big race but it's a very competitive race. The fact that Denman is in leaves those high handicapped horses on a racing weight.

"We are lucky that Noel Fehily is able to ride him. He was supposed to be riding something else (Roll Along) until declaration time," Meade concluded to At The Races.