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Michael Graham

Michael Graham

Lee seals double on 150/1 outsider Chocquinto

Sun 26th Jul 2020, 17:57

Chocquinto outruns her huge oddsChocquinto outruns her huge odds
© Photo Healy Racing

The five-furlong maiden in the Curragh was supposed to be an ideal opportunity for odds-on favourite Na Blianta Beo to score, however, 150/1 shot Chocquinto ripped up the script and then some.

The 'Jolly' came under pressure over two furlongs from home and was soon beaten as Chocquinto travelled into contention a furlong and a half out.

She kept improving and surged past Boundless Power in the final 100 yards to win nicely by a length and a half. The runner-up was disqualified for failing to draw the correct weight. Call Of The Jungle (5/1) and Ola Bonita (11/1) were promoted to second and third respectively.

Chocquinto gave jockey Billy Lee a 1962/1 double as he was earlier successful on Thunder Beauty (12/1).

Trainer Hilary McLoughlin said: “She works really well. I've never had something as fast as her at home.

“She didn't run as a two-year-old and is essentially only in training since early spring. She ran very green the first two times.

“Today was such a good race and there were so many in it. I thought she was capable of winning a maiden, but it's a little bit of a surprise obviously as she was 150/1.

“It's great because the owner is local. We'll all be drinking champagne tonight!

“My first ever winner was here in the Curragh in 2011 and I thought I'd never get another winner here so I'm delighted.

“Billy was unreal on her, he gave her an exceptional ride.

“We were going to see what happened today and then make up our minds about a plan.

“We can go anywhere now. This is exactly her trip, five is the minimum maybe on nice ground at worse.

“She seems alright, she has loads of speed, so hopefully we could maybe go up and get some black-type. We'll enjoy this anyway.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

About Michael Graham
Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.