Is Corrigeen Rock primed to win a race that punches above its weight?

On the quality of its winners, this race punches its prize fund of £40,000. Five of the last eight winners have posted a winning Racing Post Rating of higher than 150, with the exceptions all being at least 143.

For that to continue would need one of the horses at the top of the weights to win. Only two of this year's runners are rated higher than 130. Corrigeen Rock is giving 11lb and more to his rivals, but he could well have had this race as his target longer than any of the others.

He was second in this race last year and then won convincingly over course and distance in February. He was still reported as out of training in October according to the BHA's horse directory, so it is easy to imagine that he needed the run at Ascot in November. A break since, and a return to this race, suggests a plan is being executed.

It would be fair to say that a lot of the others are not famed for their heroic finishing efforts. The exceptions would be Breizh River, who needs this sort of trip rather than two miles now, and Boomslang. The latter was a taking winner over three miles at Carlisle in November. This is an interesting change in conditions. Carlisle is the North's stiffest track, Musselburgh Scotland's sharpest. The sense at the time was that Boomslang was only doing what was necessary at Carlisle. Perhaps the assessment from connections is that he was coming to the end of his tether.

One final thing to note is the tactical element of the race. The likeliest competition to Corrigeen Rock on the front is his stablemate Indian Louis. Derek Fox and Alan Doyle are likely to sort things out before the tape goes up, the only question is likely to be whether Corrigeen Rock is allowed to set sail or is given a lead.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

What they say

Lucinda Russell, trainer of Corrigeen Rock and Indian Louis
Corrigeen Rock must go right-handed and was second in this a year ago before winning at the trials meeting there. Hopefully they don’t get too much rain for him. Indian Louis is at the other end of the handicap and is on a recovery mission after being struck into last time at Carlisle.

Paul Robson, trainer of Breizh River
We’re excited to be running him for the first time over two and a half miles [over fences]. He ran into a very good one at Cheltenham last time and if you take the winner out you would have said he has run a very good race.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Beau Balko
He ran another consistent race to be second at Newbury a fortnight ago and if it doesn’t come too soon after that he should be thereabouts again. He should enjoy the good ground.

Iain Jardine, trainer of Half Shot
He’s been third in the race for the past two years and goes there in good fettle as the fitting of blinkers has brought about some improvement in recent runs. He’s well weighted in what looks an open race so hopefully he can be in the mix once again.

Sandy Thomson, trainer of Gold Des Bois
They’re forecast some rain so hopefully it doesn’t go too soft as he prefers good ground. He’s run over two miles since he joined us but hopefully he should get this longer trip around a track like this.
Reporting by David Milnes

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