Bryan Cooper celebrates on Mrs Milner
Bryan Cooper celebrates on Mrs Milner

Paul Nolan on Cheltenham Festival hopes Feet Of A Dancer and An Peann Dearg


Paul Nolan is hopeful that Feet Of A Dancer can emulate Mrs Milner in winning the Pertemps Network Handicap Final at the Cheltenham Festival.

Mrs Milner ran out an impressive winner of the 2021 renewal having qualified for the final when fourth at Leopardstown over Christmas and Feet Of A Dancer finished third in this season's renewal on her most recent outing.

Nolan drew comparisons between the pair's preparation on Nick Luck Daily, saying: "She's in good form, she's very similar to Mrs Milner in her build up to it.

"She is a mare that runs well fresh with bits of breaks between her races; she's in good form and we're hoping that she travels well and everything but so far so good and we're very pleased."

Feet Of A Dancer holds an alternative entry in the Coral Cup but Nolan revealed that the Pertemps Final was always the main objective for the six-year-old.

"That was the plan as long as she qualified," he said.

"I'd say that the softer the ground for her the better. It depends so much on how she travels early on, I wouldn't want to see her getting too much hustle and bustle; she's a slight little thing and she'd need a little luck in running but I'd hope for as much ease in the ground as possible for her."

https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham/events-tickets/the-festival/tickets/


Nolan is delighted to be able to take a good team to the Cheltenham Festival, saying: "It means everything. It's the Olympics of racing and we're delighted that we've got a couple of horses there that are actually getting in, as everyone knows, it's not easy.

"The excitement of it all, especially with so many people involved with the horses, it's great for them that they're booking their flights and getting over there for a couple of days in Cheltenham. It's a great place and a winner at Cheltenham lifts the whole place. No matter how hard your season is going, if you can get a winner over there it seems to make up for everything."

One runner that has already done his share of winning this season is An Peann Dearg who holds entries at Cheltenham in the Plate, the novices' handicap and the Grand Annual.

The eight-year-old was winless in nine career starts before winning back-to-back handicaps at Leopardstown and Nolan hopes that he hasn't stopped improving yet.

"There's no point in getting carried away, it's two handicaps he won, but the manner in the way he won and hit the line the last day that you'd be very happy with where he is at the moment and his races have worked out as well.

"He seems to be a healthier horse this season, we just changed his whole regime - he lives in the paddock and stuff like that. He's a strong sort of individual so going up in the weights shouldn't be a problem for him.

"We'd definitely like to run in whatever we get into. The way he hits the line over two miles I don't think the two and a half should be a problem for him. We'd like to run in the Grand Annual but we'll see what happens the way confirmations turn out."


More from Sporting Life

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.

Like what you've read?

Next Off

Follow & Track
Image of a horse race faded in a gold gradientYour favourite horses, jockeys and trainers with My Stable
Log in
Discover Sporting Life Plus benefitsWhite Chevron
Sporting Life Plus Logo

Most Followed

MOST READ RACING