Monday, 11 June 2012
Racing at Royal Ascot
James Nash is to launch a last-ditch attempt to put Luisant into the equation for next week’s Wokingham Stakes with an outing at Navan on Friday evening.
Luisant has been the star of the Curragh trainer’s operation since he took out a licence but lies some way short of making the cut for the six-furlong handicap on the last day of Royal Ascot.
Placed in Group races and a winner of two Listed events during his career, the nine-year-old has been back in handicaps this season but finished a close second on his two most recent starts at Tipperary and Navan.
“He’s going to run over six furlongs on Friday (the Follow Navan On Facebook Handicap) as he’ll need a penalty to get into Ascot,” said Nash.
“Hopefully he’ll win and although I haven’t looked at the entries, I’d expect him to win and pick up a 5lb penalty, which should get him there. To be honest, you’d want him to win if you had ideas of Ascot anyway.
“The only issue I have about next week is that he does like ease in the ground, and if there was any firm in the description at Ascot, then he wouldn’t run. Good would be fine.”