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IRELANDS NATIONAL HOPES Clonsheever Fails to Perform Impressively at Leopardstown. Stable Expects Jumper to Show Better Form at AIntrcc Madrigal Working Steadily. Blackthorn, writing from Dublin for the London Sportsman, gives the following account of the Irish Grand National candidates, Clonsheever and Madrigal. The performance by Clonsheever in winning the Stewards Steeplechase at Leopards-town was not, from the point of view of his Aintree prospects, altogether satisfactory, for though he scored in a common canter under a big weight, the manner of his fencing left a good deal to be desired. He brushed through several of the obstacles, striking them several inches from the top, and were he to repeat those tactics at Aintree he would quickly be a casualty. He is a quick, dashing fencer, and for my part I do not think he will be suited by the towering obstacles he will meet at Liverpool. He is a fine stayer and strongly made, and as we know, he can carry weight, but all these points in his favor count but little against his "daring." That is my summing up of his prospects. ACCOMMODATES HIMSELF TO SIZE OF FENCES. In his favor it is said that he is clever, and that, like Troytown he has the knack of accommodating himself to the size of the fences which he encounters. During his race at Leopardstown there was standing beside me one of the connections of Usshers stable, in which Clonsheever is trained. Said my acquaintance, after I had remarked that Clonsheever was chancing his fences in a dangerous manner: "I would not judge him on what he is doing now, for if you go to Liverpool you will see him give a totally different display with fences twice the size and bulk of these in front of him here." It was unfortunate that his stable companion, Max, should have met with a mishap which necessitated his being struck out of the Grand National, and my opinion is, for whatever it may be worth, that had the son of Zria not put himself-out of action by injuring his hock his chance would have been vastly more esteemed than that of Clonsheever. IX EXCELLENT CONDITION. That son of Avidity could not possibly be better than he is now, and it would only be in accord with the fitness of things were ho to win the champion steeplechase for Usshers stable, for some years ago that establishment would, with anything like decent luck, havo won it with Ballyhackle. Our other Grand National candidate. Madrigal, was not fit last week-end at Leopardstown, but he is doing the right sort of work, for his gallops are all over a long distance, and he is being patiently schooled by Norman Sikes, whese stable at Friarstown, on the borders of the Curragh, is as well ordered an establishment as there is in the country. It also shelters Maureen Bawn, who is engaged in the Lancashire Handicap steeplechase at Manchester on Easter Monday. She, too, ran at Leopardstown, but was big, and I doubt if she will be fit for several weeks yet, for she is just in the trim that will enable her trainer to have her at the keynote of perfection on the day of her race. She is not the easiest mare in the world to ride, and perhaps, if J. Moloney is available to travel to Manchester, he will have the mount on her. That jockey has been engaged for Madrigal in the Grand National.
