Noel Meade has waited a long time for a second trip to the winners’ enclosure in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National Chase and hopes Thedevilscoachman can be the one to finally provide a spark, writes Ben Hart.
Meade won what he refers to as “his favourite race” in 2002 with The Bunny Boiler and heads the betting this time around with the JP McManus-owned novice.
The seven-year-old's preparation culminated with a third race over fences at Limerick, recovering from a slow start to gallop home for Grade 3 glory.
And Meade knows the ground at Fairyhouse will have to play in his favour if he is to repeat the trick on Easter Monday.
“There’s no doubt about it, he’s a much better horse on soft ground,” said Meade.
“He‘s very much a novice. The other day he jumped very slowly over the first six fences. The race could be over for him by the time they get to halfway if he doesn’t smarten up his jumping.
“He’s a horse with plenty of ability and he’s coming in on a novice ticket really so he has a chance if things go right for him.
“If it’s fast ground he won’t run but if it’s slower ground, hopefully that will slow them down a bit.”
Also entered for Meade in the Fairyhouse showpiece are Diol Ker, Lieutenant Command, Farceur Du Large and Eurobot.
The Castletown handler is hoping that one of them will come good at his home track as he bids to end a prolonged wait for a second race victory.
Asked if a win is overdue, Meade said: “No doubt about it - but racing doesn’t work like that.
“We would love to win and we have a couple of darts to throw at the board so hopefully some of them come off.
“It would mean everything, it’s the one race I really want to win again.”
Meade remained tight-lipped over Thedevilscoachman’s saddler for the 3m5f race, with Mark Walsh facing a race against time to be declared fit to ride.
In his absence, Denis O’Regan looks most likely to take the reins, leaving Meade with no concerns ahead of the Easter Monday spectacular.
“Mark has run on him and I don’t know whether he’ll be back or not,” said Meade.
“Even then I don’t know whether he’ll be the pick because we are going to have a few. If Denis rides him I’ll be very happy – I’ll settle for whatever they do.”