BLOW FOR BORDES

Festival next as Kopek out of Irish Arkle

- David Yates

KOPEK DES BORDES will head straight to Cheltenham for the Singer Capital Markets Arkle Challenge Trophy after being ruled out of the Irish version at Leopardstown tomorrow.

Successful on his fencing debut at Navan in November, the Willie Mullins-trained sixyear-old, forced to miss Leopardstown's Christmas fixture by a setback, had been due to clash with Gordon Elliott's Romeo Coolio in the Grade One Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase.