3:45 – Leopardstown- DERRINSTOWN STUD DERBY TRIAL STAKES (GROUP 2) (3yo) Soft 1m2
The lightly raced Light Heavy has already had one win in a pattern class race this season and is taken to continue his improvement today. The Jim Bolger trained chestnut colt will be making the fourth start of his career today and he will be running at Leopardstown for the third time
He is a son of Teofilo so is breed to prosper over middle distances and consequently he did not make his racecourse debut until October last year when he ran in a Maiden race over 1 mile. His starting price of 14/1 indicates that he was not massively fancied on his debut. But he settled nicely close to the pace and lead just under 2 furlongs out and battled well when he was passed by the winner a furlong from home only going down by a neck to a more experienced horse. The going was Soft and he showed a decent level of ability to handle the underfoot conditions
He made his seasonal reappearance at Leopardstown at the end of March in a 3 year old race over 1 mile. He was first off the bridle and was being pushed along 4 furlongs from home. However, he showed the same determined quality he has shown in his only start as a 2 year old and made headway to lead inside the final furlong and kept on well to beat the Group placed Furner’s Green by ½ length. Furner’s Green has since gone on to win a Group 3 race.
He last run was also at Leopardstown and he was stepped up in trip to 1 mile 2 furlongs for the first time when he contested the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes. He was impressive on the day as he tracked the leaders in 3rd place before making headway in the straight and going into the lead 1 furlong out. He was ridden to assert by Kevin Manning and he stayed on well to win comfortably by 2 ½ lengths with the step up in trip definitely proving to be in his favour
He runs over 1 mile 2 furlongs again today and in contrast to his two runs so far this season when he has run on Good ground, he runs in Soft ground today. He has already shown his ability to run in Soft ground and was also an impressive winner on his first run over today’s trip
He has a very decent opponent against him today in the form of Wrote. The Aidan O’Brien runner won the Grade 1 Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs last November and was third over 10 furlongs at Maydan in March. However, he did tire towards the end of his last race and has to give Light Heavy 3lbs today and light Heavy is taken to improve past him.
