David Menuisier has provided an upbeat bulletin on G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby hope Lionel (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) after the colt delighted the trainer in a recent racecourse gallop at Kempton.
A winner of the Listed Cocked Hat S. when last seen, Lionel is a general 10-1 chance for the Curragh Classic and is reported to be in rude health by his trainer.
Menuisier said, “All is in place for Saturday-so far so good. He keeps on developing and [is] getting stronger and stronger. He did a nice piece of work on Thursday at Kempton and that was pretty much his final bit and we were delighted. He's fit, he knows the job so all is good really.”
He added, “In an ideal world I'd like good, good to soft ground as he's a big horse. I think we're going there as one of the major players, but obviously I'm biased. I think he's a really nice horse and the difference between him and many of the other runners is that we have aimed at this race for a while.
“We mapped it out before his previous run, it's not an afterthought, put it that way-it was his main plan. We did try to run him at Lingfield before Goodwood, but he was a little under the weather. The plan was always to give him a good break before this and it has all gone according to plan.”
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