MATTHEW Smyth says it would be a dream come true to land a first Grade 1 win with Ronald Pump at Ascot today, and after getting a clear run with the eight-year-old this season, the Meath trainer is “very hopeful” his stable star can land a famous win.

With antepost favourite Buzz scratched from the race yesterday, Ronald Pump was trading as short as 3/1 for the Grade 1 Howden Long Walk Hurdle (2.25) yesterday evening. He takes on last year’s one-two Paisley Park and Thyme Hill, the Long Distance Hurdle winner Thomas Darby and the patiently campaigned Champ, who makes his seasonal debut back over hurdles.

No Irish-trained horse has ever won the three-mile Grade 1 but the Laois-Limerick Syndicate-owned gelding arguably has the best form on offer today having got closer to Honeysuckle than any of his other rivals could in a hotly run Hatton’s Grace Hurdle.

“Last year was a bit of a disaster in some respects,” Smyth told The Irish Field. “After he ran so well in the Hatton’s Grace, he was lame the morning of the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. I was gutted with that because he was great form.

“Then, heading towards Cheltenham, he missed a couple of weeks again after he got a splint and even then when we got him ready for Punchestown, he missed five days in the run up after he got a stone bruise.

“With all the time he missed, he ran a great race in Punchestown (third to Klassical Dream), and I think that run just emptied him. He was completely flat on his next run in France, that wasn’t him at all, usually he’s fairly consistent and runs his race. Thankfully things have gone well since Fairyhouse this time and he’s travelled over fine.”

Ronald Pump, who will be ridden by his usual partner Keith Donoghue today, has placed in all four Grade 1 races he has contested in Britain and Ireland which is remarkable in itself considering Smyth paid just €1,000 for him at a horses-in-training sale in 2016.

“I’m a small enough outfit so to come across a horse who could run in Grade 1s and be competitive in them is something else. It would be a dream to win. God knows when or if I’ll have a Grade 1 horse again.”

Thyme Hill is the new favourite for the race while Paisley Park will be ridden by Tom Bellamy for the first time as Aidan Coleman is suspended.

Later on the card the Betfair Exchange Trophy promises to be an intense betting heat with the market headed by Greatwood Hurdle third and first, No Ordinary Joe and West Cork.

Sandwiched between the pair is smooth Sandown winner Samarrive, who would surprisingly by Paul Nicholls’s first winner in the race should he oblige today.

Speaking on Thursday, the Ditcheat trainer said: “I am very happy with Samarrive. We have not done a lot with him since Sandown, but he’s in good shape and worked nicely on Wednesday morning.

“He could have obviously done without the 11lb he was given for winning at Sandown. I thought that was quite harsh, especially when you consider he runs here off the same mark as Dan Skelton’s horse (West Cork) who won the Greatwood Hurdle.

“He will need to improve a lot to win a race like this on the back of an 11lb rise but, as you can see, he is unexposed and going forward will make a lovely novice chaser in the autumn.”

COLM Murphy thinks Aldo The Apache could well be up to making it four wins in five starts with a second Grade B win of the season in the Tara Handicap Hurdle (1.10) at Navan today.

The five-year-old ran out an impressive eighth-length winner of the Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle at Naas, clocking a smart time, and he has been made favourite in today’s feature race at the Meath track.

“He seems very well and we’re happy with him,” Murphy told The Irish Field. “I guess the big question is can he handle the 20lb rise in his rating since his Punchestown win and we won’t know that until he races but he’s definitely getting stronger. You’d kind of forget he’s only a five-year-old so in that respect, you’d be hopeful he is still improving.”

Murphy also reported his smart mare Impervious will skip Leopardstown next week with the Dublin Racing Festival her next target.

“Nothing went right at Fairyhouse – if you could write a script of what you didn’t want to happen in the race for her, that was it. Just the way the pace developed, the muddling pace and so on. She has been busy enough through the summer and we just wanted to get a little break into her so we’ve backed off and hopefully it’ll be all go for her at the Dublin Racing Festival.”

Bookmakers could be on alert today at Navan with five of the eight races containing horses languishing around the even money mark which could attract plenty of multiple bets from punters.

On a card that contains a number of promising young horses, Journey With Me is perhaps the most interesting, making his debut over hurdles (12.35). The Henry de Bromhead-trained, Robcour-owned five-year-old won the same bumper that aforementioned pair won with Bob Olinger at Gowran Park last March and is already prominent among bookmaker lists for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.