It was a big call for Paul Nolan and the owners of Latest Exhibition to skip the Cheltenham Festival, but they will be hoping it pays off when the eight-year-old heads to Fairyhouse this weekend.

Nolan instigated the call to avoid another clash with the top class Monkfish, who had already denied Latest Exhibition two Grade 1 wins this season, and he was somewhat vindicated when Willie Mullins’ charge won, albeit a little less convincingly than usual, in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

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Latest Exhibition will go for the BoyleSports Irish Grand National or the Underwriting Exchange Gold Cup this weekend and much will depend on whether Envoi Allen, a faller at Cheltenham, turns up in the latter. In any case, the son of Oscar is the 7/1 favourite for the Irish Grand National, which returns after being cancelled last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People say we shouldn’t have been afraid of one horse at Cheltenham, but Monkfish still won well,” Nolan said last week.

“We made a decision and said, whatever happens, we’re not going to be sorry. He’s only won once this season and if I was told that at the start of the campaign, I’d certainly be disappointed. We’re trying to rectify that – and hopefully we’ll have made the right decision come Fairyhouse,” Nolan continued.

Novices have an excellent record in the race and Latest Exhibition has top class novice form. The presence of Tiger Roll in the race may also sway connections as it would mean the Gigginstown horse would carry top weight, taking that burden off Latest Exhibition.

Final decision

Eddie and Michael O’Leary look set to leave a decision on Tiger Roll’s participation at Fairyhouse until the last minute, allowing a more accurate prediction on the state of the ground. The 11-year-old could yet go to Aintree instead, but not for the Grand National, and instead the Grade 1 Betway Bowl.

Other leading contenders for the Irish Grand National include Espanito Bello and the Martin Brassil-trained Longhouse Poet. Espanito Bello is trained by Barry Connell, a financier who has spent big in Irish racing and owned multiple Grade 1 winners.

Having set up an operation to train horses himself, he took out his own licence earlier this season and Espanito Bello has looked his best horse. He is another with good novice chase form and looks a leading contender on Easter Monday.