Liverpool Hurdle consolation on the cards for Home By The Lee

Home By The Lee will be readied for the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree following his luckless run at the Cheltenham Festival last week.

Having appeared better than ever in winning the Lismullen Hurdle at Navan and the Savills Hurdle at Leopardstown, hopes were high for the Joseph O’Brien-trained 10-year-old ahead of what was his fifth appearance in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park.

However, his race ended prematurely after he was badly hampered by the fall of Crambo at the fifth flight, which led to him unseating his rider J J Slevin.

O’Brien was left wondering what might have been given the eventual winner Bob Olinger had finished behind Home By The Lee in his two previous races this season and the Owning Hill handler is now eyeing swift compensation on Merseyside.

He said: “Obviously it was a pity the way things worked out as the horse he’d been beating all year came out and won the race, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes and he seems fine, so you’ll probably see him in Aintree.”

Home By The Lee is likely to be joined at Aintree by stablemate Puturhandstogether, who provided O’Brien with his fifth Cheltenham Festival success when running out an impressive winner of the Fred Winter a week ago.

A step up to Grade One level for the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle on the opening day of the Grand National meeting is now on the agenda.

“You’ll probably see him in Aintree as well I’d say,” O’Brien added.

“We’ll see how he is between now and then, but he got a good whack off the handicapper, so we might see him at Aintree.”