Lord Scoundrel

It was only a four-horse race that Lord Scoundrel won at Galway on Sunday, and he was sent off at odds-on to do so, but there was a lot to like about the manner in which the Gigginstown House horse completed his task.

Settled into a nice even rhythm by Bryan Cooper through the early stages of the race, second behind a nice even pace that Brian Hayes set on My Direction, his jumping was good in the main. He screwed a little at the first fence in the dip first time, but he was quickly back balanced eight strides later to jump the second fence in the dip.

He wasn't helped by the fact that the leader was jumping to his right, into his path on occasion, but he moved up nicely on the outside at the fourth last fence and, despite putting in a short stride at the third last, he travelled easily up on the outside on the run to the two fences in the dip, he popped over those two easily, move into the lead on the run around the home turn, and stayed on nicely up the run-in to come clear of Waaheb, who was in turn clear of the other two runners.

Gordon Elliott's horse was a decent hurdler, but he was always thought of by his connections as a chaser, and, in just two attempts over the larger obstacles, he already looks like a better chaser than hurdler. On his chasing bow at Limerick two weeks ago, he probably had favourite Rock On Fruity's measure when that rival fell at the second last fence. Sunday's run was another step forward on that.

By Presenting, he won his maiden hurdle on good to firm ground, and he will probably be at his best away from bottomless ground, but he ran well at Navan last March to finish a close-up third in a novices' hurdle on soft ground, so soft ground should be fine. More importantly, he should improve now for a step up from this two-and-a-quarter-mile trip. Also, it is interesting that his rider said afterwards that he would be even better going left-handed, given that both his runs over fences so far have been at right-handed tracks. He is only six and he should improve again for this, just his second run over fences.

25^th October 2015

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