30th-Jun-2024

Azada was my starting point here, during the week, but it appears that she was the starting point for lots of other people too. She is an exciting filly, but she has been put in very short, and there is value in the race beyond her.

I am backing Lord Massusus, now that the rains have come. I think that he is at his absolute best at Leopardstown on soft ground when there is a fast pace on, but he has run some good races at The Curragh too.

He was fourth in the Listed Celebration Stakes, this race at this meeting last year, on ground that should have been faster than ideal, coming from the rear in a race in which the pace held up well, and he ran well in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes in early May, to finish second to White Birch, who beat Auguste Rodin in the Tattersalls Gold Cup next time.

Lord Massusus was well beaten in that Tattersalls Gold Cup, so you have to allow him that but, if he could come back to his Mooresbridge run, that would bring him right into this. Trainer Joe Murphy’s horses are starting to run into form now too.

LORD MASSUSUS WON (ADV 9/1, SP 10/1)