Sovereign Debt

14th-Apr-2017

Ennaadd sets a high standard here, he has won his last four.  He battled on well to win at Kempton last April on his penultimate start. Then last time, back at Kempton in November, he was impressive in winning a Listed fast-track qualifier for today.

He is lightly-raced, he is progressive, he is proven at the trip and on the surface, he has won at the track, and he is the highest-rated horse in the race.

However, he is not invincible, he is obviously fragile and he did get worked up before the start on his penultimate run.

As well as that, I think that Sovereign Debt’s chance has been under-rated by the market.

Lady O’Reilly’s horse is very different to Ennaadd in that he is an eight-year-old who has raced 50 times, he looks completely exposed at first glance.  However, we know that he is talented, and there is a chance that he has improved again for the move to Ruth Carr’s.

He has run just once for his new trainer, he finished third in the Listed Magnolia Stakes at Kempton two weeks ago on his first attempt at 10 furlongs.  But he was unlucky not to win that day.  He travelled like the best horse in the race from a long way out, and he went for a gap between Absolute Blast and Linguistic that really wasn’t there, before switching wide and finishing well, going down by a total of a half a length in the end.

That run proved that he could stay 10 furlongs, and I thought that the 10-furlong race would be the race for him today, but it may be that he is more comfortable at a mile, that his rider can be as aggressive on him as he likes over a mile.

He only has 3lb to find with Ennaadd on official ratings, he is the second highest rated horse in the race, and he could be better than his rating of 110.  He ran some fine races in defeat last season before coming over to Leopardstown and beating Blue De Vega in the Listed Knockaire Stakes in October.

His latest run at Kempton proved that he was at least as good as ever for his new trainer, possibly better.  He goes well at Lingfield, his record at the track reads 2322, he has been second in the last two renewals of this race, beaten a neck and a half a length respectively.  James Sullivan is a good rider, and his draw in stall six, in the middle, over a mile, is a positive.

SOVEREIGN DEBT WON (SP 8/1)