Sizing John Facing Dublin Racing Festival Decision

Jockey Robbie Power says a decision is imminent on whether Sizing John will run at this weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown.

The former Gold Cup winner has been off track with injury for over a year and his comeback has been hampered by unsuitable ground conditions, as connections seek a run before a tilt at regaining his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown in March.

With entries in the Dublin Chase as well as Sunday’s Irish Gold Cup, regular jockey Robbie Power said in his BoyleSports blog on Monday that any participation has yet to be decided:

He’s still in good form at home but we’ll have to see how things are and make a decision later on in the week.

“It’ll be interesting to see if someone can stamp their authority on the Cheltenham Gold Cup market because it’s wide open. Frodon won well at the weekend but it wasn’t a Gold Cup-winning performance. It’s also unusual for a contender to start over hurdles like Presenting Percy did, although he’s a deserving favourite from what we’ve seen so far.”

Power was also impressed with Espoir D’Allen’s victory in the Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas, however he urged caution after Gavin Cromwell’s five-year-old was cut into 16/1 from 25/1 for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

He said: “It was a good performance, but if he is going down the Champion Hurdle route he’d want to be beating the horses he did on Sunday. I made the running of Forge Meadow and we didn’t go a crazy gallop. I know he’s been cut for the Champion Hurdle, but I don’t think Nicky Henderson will be shivering in his boots with Buveur d’Air.”

Read Robbie Power’s latest blog post in full here.

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