The 2.20 is a really interesting race, and I have been waiting for Lough Har to be back out.
However, lets look at the race around Nineohtwooneoh, who won off top weight a week ago on chase debut. He won very well that day, jumping well in the main and producing a very taking turn of foot after the last. That race though fell apart with his main rivals unseating and/or running out, and from being top weight in a 0-105 he is eighth in the weights in a 0-120. This means he is meeting better horses and that might mean that he is one to take on at prohibitive odds.
So who with? Lantiern tops the weights and he has some very useful novice hurdle form in the book. He is a horse that should take to chasing, but I am worried that they've gone for the tongue tie for his chase debut. This suggests that he has a breathing problem still (has been noted before).
Court Royale is an experienced chaser and I expect him to make use of that experience to run a good race at a big price. He is very well handicapped if he is returning to racing with more confidence, after he seemed to lose it when taking a heavy fall last year. Dentley De Mee is another who has good experience over fences and is feasibly treatedm this is a drop in quality for him and that along with the break might spark a revival.
Included is similar to the two above, he switches yard (not a positive) and he has chase experience. Et Moi Alors is a fascinating horse, he has shown glimpses of being a very talented horse, but he seems to have a few issues. He goes chasing off an interesting mark on bits of form, and if they supported him in the market you;d have to take note.
Lough Har, we will come back to. Romenor is exposed over hurdles and didn't look a chaser to me when he ran over fences. Simply Loveleh is a horse with good course form, but I worry that she doesn't have the scope of a few of these. It's For Alan looks outclassed.
So Lough Har, a horse i've been keeping an eye on for a long time. He has been progressed steadily in novice hurdles and then he turned out over fences towards the end of last season. That day he was ridden by Conor, and he was very unlucky to be impeded multiple times by a loose horse. He would have won that day with as good a passage as the eventual winner, and what is more I think he was still rusty! The handicapper has put him up in the handicap but I think it is very fair and to be honest I would be disappointed if he wasn't a 125+ horse in time.
