Irish Derby news: Lionel ready for Curragh challenge
- Planet Sport writer
- 20 June 2022
Trainer David Menuisier believes 10/1 chance Lionel will be one of the 'major players' in the Irish Derby at the Curragh on Saturday.
The Lope De Vega colt won the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood in May, where he came from an unpromising position and finished strongly, and Menuisier is in a positive mood ahead of the Irish Classic.
"All is in place for Saturday, so far so good," said Menuisier.
"He keeps on developing and 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.
🏇👏 Great way to shed the maiden tag - Lionel refuses to be denied, getting up close home to take the (Listed) Cocked Hat Stakes at @Goodwood_Races! pic.twitter.com/oRnFyhksqO
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) May 20, 2022
"In an ideal world I'd like good, good to soft ground as he's a big horse. Personally I don't like running on very fast ground, especially when they are inexperienced still. When they get older it's maybe not as important, but when they are still learning I find they can be taken off their feet and not really understand what is happening.
"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."
