RACING:IF IRELAND possesses a horse capable of mixing it with the remarkable Kauto Star and Long Run in March's Cheltenham Gold Cup, then we could find out his name in today's Lexus Chase at Leopardstown.
And if there is such a beast then it’s worth betting it will be either Rubi Light or Quito De La Roque.
In a prestige €150,000 Grade One containing proven top-flight winners like Joncol, Cooldine and a pair of British raiders in Noland and Synchronised, it might be dangerously presumptive to narrow it down to a straight match.
But already the official handicapper reckons Rubi Light and Quito De La Roque have something in hand on the others and both still have the potential to graduate to the very highest class in time.
What this afternoon’s highlight offers on its own terms, however, is a classic clash between a proven stayer and a comparative speed horse.
Quito De La Roque gives every impression of even needing further than the classic steeplechase distance, while the big question mark of this Lexus boils down to whether or not Rubi Light will last the trip out properly.
If he does, then Quito and the others really could have their work cut out, and in the longer term Kauto Co could have a new and very real Gold Cup threat.
Rubi Light has never run this far before and trainer Rob Hennessy admits today is a fact-finding mission to find out if the Gold Cup is a realistic target or whether a return to the Ryanair will be on Rubi Light’s cards.
“I’d say if we are ever going to get three miles it will be now with the ground drying out. It will be on the yielding side of good, I’d imagine. There will be no problems at all and no excuses,” he said.
There is also the plus of a pedigree that contains a Grande Steeple Chase de Paris winner. Rubi Light’s sire Network has also produced Saint Are, a Grade One hurdles winner over three miles plus at Aintree last season.
A sign of the current overall breeding reality is that both the big two are French breds and there is something extremely likable about the way Quito De La Roque goes about his business.
Beaten just once in seven chase starts, he was characteristically resolute in overhauling an exhausted Sizing Europe at Down Royal last month.
If he is within striking distance of the lead at the last, nothing will come home stronger. But maybe by the last obstacle Rubi Light will have already flown beyond recall.
