JADE CAN BE A GEM FOR WILL

JADE DE GRUGY, a Grade 1-winning hurdler, should make a winning start over fences in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Beginners Chase in Cork tomorrow.

- BY PETER O'HEHIR

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old has been beaten only twice from eight starts - and both defeats came at the Cheltenham Festival.

She has always looked like a future star over fences and will be expected to prove too strong for Henry de Bromhead’s The Big Westerner and Cottesloe Sunshine.

Jade De Grugy triumphed three times in her novice hurdling season, culminating in a victory over classy stable-companion Spindleberry in the Grade 1 Honeysuckle at Fairyhouse.