Al Boum Photo has New Year’s Day Chase hat-trick in sights

The Buck’s Boum gelding ended up running in the two-mile-five-furlong contest almost by accident two seasons ago, after sidestepping the Savills Chase at Leopardstown the previous week on account of unsuitably quick ground.

With the same issue ruling him out of a subsequent run in the Irish Gold Cup, Al Boum Photo lined up at Cheltenham as no more than a lively outsider but finally provided his trainer with an elusive first victory in the blue riband under Paul Townend.

Mullins’s decision to follow the same route last season again paid off in the Cotswolds in March – and Al Boum Photo will be a red-hot favourite once more to make a successful comeback at the seaside venue today.

Mullins said: “It’s a good preparation. I brought him down there for the proper winter jumping ground, which he enjoys, and it worked two years running.

“Hopefully it will work again this year.

“We’ve started off plenty of horses that have won at Cheltenham and other big venues in Tramore. We always get very nice jumping ground down there. We get safe jumping ground, and that’s key.

“I think that’s key to the preparation of any jumping horse, and they learn a lot at Tramore. You’re up and down and round – it’s no different from Cheltenham. You’re either turning or jumping – and they learn a good bit there that they might not learn on big, flat tracks.”

Al Boum Photo faces just four rivals in the Grade Three contest, with Mullins also fielding last year’s runner-up Acapella Bourgeois and Brahma Bull – who was last seen chasing home leading Gold Cup hope Minella Indo at Navan.

John Queally’s Djingle and the Andrew McNamara-trained I’m A Game Changer complete the quintet.

Hereford’s jumps meeting tomorrow has been abandoned because the track is frozen.

The track was raceable at an inspection on Wednesday, but officials were forced to bring forward a second check – originally called for today – by 24 hours, following an overnight frost as the temperature dipped to -2C.

The card at Sandown on the same day does go ahead, and Metier is set to face seven rivals when he puts his unbeaten record over obstacles on the line in the Unibet Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle.

Formerly trained on the Flat in Ireland by Andrew Slattery, the Mastercraftsman gelding subsequently changed hands for 150,000 guineas to pursue a jumping career with Harry Fry.

He made an impressive start for his new connections at Newton Abbot in October – and having since followed up with a dominant front-running victory at Ascot, Metier is well fancied to complete his hat-trick in the Grade One feature.

Metier’s rider Sean Bowen said: “He has done everything right in his two runs so far, in that he has jumped and travelled well. I think Sandown will suit him well. For a Flat horse he stays very well, and the softer the better it is for him. It looks like it will be fairly testing, so that will suit.

“He was a decent stayer on the Flat, but he is just a hardy, tough horse that enjoys his jumping.

“My only Grade One win is on If The Cap Fits, but hopefully he can give me another one on Saturday.”

Grand National-winning jockey Niall Madden called time on his riding career at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve.

Madden, known affectionately as ‘Slippers’, guided the Martin Brassil-trained Numbersixvalverde to win the Aintree spectacular in 2006.

His other notable victories include the 2005 Galway Hurdle aboard Noel Meade’s More Rainbows, the 2006 Christmas Hurdle on Jazz Messenger and the 2010 Galmoy Hurdle with former Cheltenham Gold Cup hero War Of Attrition, trained by Mouse Morris.

Madden’s final winner came aboard Philip Dempsey’s The Long Mile in the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at Limerick on Monday, a horse owned by JP McManus, with whom Madden enjoyed a long association.

The jockey hung up his boots for the final time after finishing down the field in the Tote Supporting Punchestown 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle on Rich Belief.

Madden said: “I’ve had a great career and had my first ride here in 2001. It was nice to finish up here at my local track.

“The Grand National was obviously the big highlight, and I rode two Grade One winners – the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Jazz Messenger and the two-mile chase at Leopardstown over Christmas on Nickname.

“I’ve no major plans, although there are a few roads I’d like to go down. Nothing is set in stone –and I’m open to all job offers.”

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