Meade Still Targeting Gold Cup With Affordale Fury

Noel Meade remains hopeful Affordale Fury can take his chance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup despite being pulled up lame in last weekend’s Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.

The eight-year-old, a winner of the Savills Chase at the same track over Christmas, travelled strongly on the front end and jumped well for much of the contest before his race came to an abrupt end. He weakened sharply four fences from home and was pulled up after the third-last.

Subsequent veterinary checks revealed the issue to be a minor soft-tissue injury rather than anything more serious, leaving Meade optimistic that a Gold Cup bid is still very much on the table.

“He pulled a little muscle on the inside of his hind leg,” Meade explained. “He made a small mistake and it must have hurt him straight away because once he landed, he was done.

“He was quite lame after the race but he’s a bit better this morning. The vets have seen him and hopefully it won’t hold him up for too long. It’s just a bit of soft-tissue damage, so it depends how quickly it heals.”

Meade was convinced something was amiss given how well the gelding had been performing up to that point.

“He was going and jumping very well, very straight. They were going a fair gallop but he’s better than that, so there had to be something wrong. We scoped him after the race and he was 100 per cent clean — the issue was purely lameness.”

Providing he recovers in time, Meade has no hesitation in pressing on towards Cheltenham.

“If we can get him back on song, he’s definitely going to the Gold Cup.”

Affordale Fury is currently a 50/1 shot for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.