Aspire Tower Taking Direct Route To Festival

The Henry De Bromhead trained Aspire Tower is looking more than likely to not turn up to the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday and instead head straight to the Cheltenham festival.

Aspire Tower has been a standout hurdler for the De Bromhead yard racing six times over flights since coming from the flat and landing some superb races.

Last season the gelding landed his first two races in fine style, with his second win of the season at Leopardstown in a Grade Two Juvenile event seeing him take the spoils by 18 lengths.

He went to the festival off the back of a fall at the last in a Grade One event he looked sure to go close in before going to the ground.

At the Cheltenham festival he stayed on well in the final stages to pick up second in the Triumph Hurdle, in what was a very eventful renewal of the Grade One.

This season stepping out of novice company the long term target has always been the Champion Hurdle and off the back of both his runs to date, could go close.

The five year old started this term off at Down Royal in the Grade Two WKD Hurdle getting back to winning ways, seeing off Supreme Novices' Hurdle second Abacadabras.

He then went to Leopardstown over the Christmas period for the Grade One Matheson Hurdle and was a close second behind Sharjah, going from the front and giving a strong pace all the way round and still managing to power home.

It was thought that De Bromhead would give him an outing in the Irish Champion Hurdle this weekend at the Dublin Racing festival, before going to Cheltenham, but it now looks as though there has been a change of plan and he will instead head straight to the festival in March.

(Credit ATR) "Aspire Tower will probably go straight to Cheltenham,” said De Bromhead.“He’s still a baby, so we backed off him since Christmas – he’s filling out again and looks brilliant.”