Locally owned horse aims for Cheltenham glory

THERE will be huge local interest when 'Schindlers Hunt', partly owned by Walderstown's Catherine Murphy, takes to the track in Thursday's high-profile Ryanair Chase at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival. The ten-year-old chaser, who finished third behind 'Imperial Commander' in the same race last year, is currently among the favourites for Thursday's race, and is available at odds of 12-1 with some bookmakers. In February, 'Schindlers Hunt' proved his readiness for Cheltenham with an excellent third-placed finish behind 'Joncol' and 'Cooldine' in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown, after which trainer Dessie Hughes confirmed Schindlers Hunt for the Ryanair Chase. Walderstown's Catherine Murphy, a native of Carlow, is joined in the Slaneyville Syndicate by her six brothers and a sister. And Catherine, who arrived in Cheltenham yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), has fingers crossed for a good showing on Thursday. "We've had Schindlers Hunt for three years now and have had some very good showings. Hopefully, he will put on a good display on Thursday and we'd be very pleased with a placed-finish. It's a very tough race and there's lots of firm competition in there, but we think he could be in the running to match or better last year's finish," said Catherine. The jockey on board 'Schindlers Hunt' on Thursday will be Paddy Flood, a 23 year-old who has previously won the Irish Grand National. This year's Ryanair Chase boasts a total winnings of £220,000 and begins at 2.40pm on Thursday. Meanwhile, the future of the Mount Temple-owned 'Cane Brake' looks bleak after the eleven year-old suffered a nasty recurrence of a tendon problem last week. Cane Brake, who won the Paddy Power at Leopardstown in 2006, and also finished an honourable fifth in the 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup, is expected to be officially retired by the Mount Temple Two Racing Syndicate in the next week. Cane Brake had been provisionally pencilled in to compete at this year's Aintree Grand National, but that hope has now been completely dashed, according to Joe Ganley, of the Mount Temple Two Racing Syndicate. "Unfortunately, Cane Brake looks like being retired in the next week or so. He's given us some memorable times and we're heartbroken about it, but we have to take into account Cane Brake's age and everything he's been through regarding injury. It definitely looks like it's a career-ending injury," said Ganley. To ease the pain of Cane Brake's imminent retirement, the Mount Temple Two Racing Syndicate have recruited another contender in the shape of 'Donegan Castle', whose expected to contest its maiden hurdle over the weekend,