If it wasn’t for bad luck Lochinvar Art would have none at all but Laura Crossland and David Moran’s talented three-year-old will again engage his mighty heart muscle to try and clear the obstacles between him and Group 1 success.
The Modern Art colt steps out in Friday night’s Bathurst Gold Chalice Final at 9.03pm and his co-trainer and driver, Moran, joined Cody Winnell and Andrew Kuuse on RSN 927’s One Out One Back to forecast Lochinvar Art’s chances.
“We’ve probably never had the horse better than what he is at the moment,” Moran said. “He thoroughly deserves (a Group 1) and I think one day he will get that chance and hopefully it’s Friday night.”
Lochinvar Art will start from gate nine, inside the back row behind Michael Doltoff’s Lets Go Brazil over the middle-distance (2260m), with the Victorian a $2.20 chance with TAB.com.au despite the tricky draw.
“We’ve got to take luck out of the equation and drive him like he is the best horse in the race, but in saying that we’ve just got to play it by ear a little bit,” Moran said. “If you plan to snag and get off straight away you might be a fair way back and others might have the jump on you a little bit. We’ll play it by ear, but we certainly won’t be three or four the fence and going for luck.”
One thing Moran is sure of is that Lochinvar Art will keep giving.
“He’s a funny sort of horse, he loves racing, cops the work pretty good and he’s pretty hard not to race because he’s just happy there doing it,” he said.
“I just probably love him the most for his heart. He never, ever gives up. That’s probably why it upsets me more when he gets so many bad barriers because he just tries so hard and you hope one day he gets a bit of luck and doesn’t have to bust his butt.”
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