Uncle Junior seen at Punchestown© Photo Healy Racing
There are four irish runners declared for the latest leg in the Crystal Cup European Cross Country Challenge taking place at Lion d'Angers Racecourse in France on Thursday.
Willie Mullins sends over La Touche winner Uncle Junior (Emmet Mullins) while Tony Martin's Saddlers Storm (Paul Carberry) is 14LBs better off for the 4 1/2Lengths he was beaten in the Punchestown event.
A New Story (Adrian Heskin) and the 2010 winner of this event Another Jewel (Davy Russell) complete the Irish trained runners.
The Crystal Cup was a new initiative developed in 2010 to bring together the finest international horses and riders to reward the most successful stable in cross country steeple chasing. The 10-race series, with nearly 700,000 euros in prize money, is hosted by many of Europe’s premier racecourses, over unique combinations of hedges, banks, ditches and timber. This year’s Challenge began in Pau in South West France in February and the final race is at Cheltenham in December. The series consists of four further races in France and visits to Ireland, Belgium, Italy and to the Czech Republic for the Velka Pardubika.
