Lough Derg

17-Jan-2009

Lough Derg is a horse who is continually under-rated, and he is well over-priced at 10/1 for this. His performance in beating No Refuge and Franchoek over two miles and five furlongs at Cheltenham two weeks ago was right out of the top drawer, and he is a better horse at Ascot than he is anywhere else. Okay, so he is dropping down to two miles and three and a half furlongs today, which is not ideal, and he has to carry top weight of 11st 10lb, but it is reportedly still raining at Ascot, so this should be more of a stamina test than you might expect. Furthermore, Lough Derg won this race last year under top weight, off a mark of 150, just 3lb lower than the mark off which he races today, and we know that he is in the form of his life. There is a chance that he will get done for toe over the last two flights, but there is also a chance that he will out-battle all or most of his rivals. At 10/1 that chance is worth taking.

LOUGH DERG WON (MP 10/1, SP 9/1)

17th January, 2009

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