11th-Apr-2015

Duke Of Lucca couldn’t quite live up to expectations in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham on his most recent run, when we had him on side, but the Cross Country Chase was quite a messy race this year, even before the incident at the second last. There were lots of horses in contention until late, and Duke Of Lucca’s performance there shouldn’t be held against him. In fact, given that he was racing off a higher mark this year than he was in the race last year, he ran at least as well this year as he did in the same race last year, before he came on to win this race.

His mark is 3lb higher today than the mark off which he won this race last year, but that is not much of an issue. He is now 5lb lower than the mark off which he started the season and 7lb lower than his peak rating over fences. This is his time of year, four of his last five wins have been in March or April, and the ground will be very much in his favour.

DUKE OF LUCCA WON (ADV 7/1, SP 9/2)