Declan Carroll eyes huge Leopardstown pot with £1,000 buy Shawaamekh

Trainer Declan Carroll is hoping to scoop the biggest prize of his career on Irish Champions Weekend with a horse he picked up for just £1,000.

The €150,000 7f handicap which closes the card at Leopardstown on Saturday has been the target for Shawaamekh since his impressive victory at Thirsk last month, and the lightly raced five-year-old is likely to be a leading fancy if sneaking in at the bottom of the weights.

Success at Leopardstown would complete a riches-to-rags-to-riches tale for Shawaamekh, who was sold as a foal for 65,000gns, fetched £230,000 as a yearling but was then bought for £1,000 as a three-year-old in November 2017 having failed to reach the track for John Gosden.

Malton-based Carroll said: "He'd been an expensive buy as a yearling – he was one of the top lots at the Premier Sale – and had been in a big stable in Newmarket but never ran. He was a nice, big horse but looked backward. You could understand why he never got to run for them."

Shawaamekh eventually made it to the course in June last year as a four-year-old and raced a further three times in the colours of his breeder Richard Kent before being sold for £25,000 to the Highgreen Partnership.

He has proved to be a shrewd acquisition as he has yet to finish outside the first two in five starts for the Highgreen Partnership and posted a career-best at Thirsk last month, winning in the style of a horse with more to offer to set up a tilt at a massive payday.

Carroll added: "Leopardstown has been the plan for a while – we need a few to come out, but it's been the plan since he won last time. We'd like a drop of rain, a bit of juice in the ground would be in his favour.

"I'd imagine there's still more to come and the style of racing at Leopardstown should suit him, as will a big field and a good gallop."

Shawaamekh is 27th in the list for a race which has a maximum field of 18. Confirmations will be made on Tuesday with declarations taking place on Thursday.

For the freshest betting advice, based on latest going and market conditions, don't miss the Live Tipster every afternoon. Just click Raceday Live at racingpost.com or the mobile app