Ten Large Down (8-1) amazed the crowds at Wimbledon on Tuesday night in the Racing Post Juvenile as he took first, rewarding his camp with a healthy £5,000 across the 460m stretch.
The Diane Henry-trained dog was a rank outsider among market favourites Eye Onthe Storm and Pat Buckley’s Newlawn Class (the 7-4 joint-favourites), who are both also the ante-post market favourites for the William Hill-sponsored Derby in May.
Henry was hoping for Down to be drawn on the inside of Eye Onthe Storm for the race and was lucky enough to receive just that.
As soon as the hare crossed the mark, the traps were released and Down smashed out of trap three perfectly with no margin for error. He made great use of pace to maintain his lead on Class who also had great early pace but lost momentum as he stumbled slightly on the turn.
The only other threat of the night for Down was Shaws Dilemma (7-1) who continued to chase but failed to prevail as Down galloped strongly to take first, clocking 28.10secs.
Trainer Mark Wallis’s Storm could only produce a third, he clocked 28.34secs. Dilemma went on to take second in 28.33secs.Down ultimately brought a whole new level to the race with his performance on the night.
Henry said: “Ten Large Down has always been a dog that runs a track better and better the more times he goes there.
“His big target this year will be the Derby, and the plan has always been to give him as much experience of Wimbledon in the build-up to the competition as we can.”
Down has certainly proved he can compete with the best, as a result of the Juvenile his odds to take the Derby have already been slashed from 50-1 to 25-1. If he continues to produce the same results, he could surely prove to be a worthy contender this year.
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