Lazy Griff's route to Doncaster still open to discussion

North Wales Chronicle

23-07-2025

Charlie Johnston's three-year-old has bumped into the Aidan O'Brien-trained Lambourn on each of his three previous starts this season, finishing second in the Chester Vase and the Derby at Epsom before making late gains into third place in the Irish Derby.
A fourth clash could be on the cards at Doncaster in September, with Lambourn the 15-8 favourite and Lazy Griff a 7-1 shot for the Leger with Paddy Power – but whether the latter will be seen in action before the Town Moor showpiece remains to be seen.
'He's fine and back cantering now and I need to have a chat with Mike Prince and the Middleham Park team, just to thrash out what route we're going to go down,' said Johnston.
'We haven't come to any firm decisions on that yet, but whatever we do it will all revolve around the Leger, that's for sure.
'I think we're probably looking for him to have two more runs this year and it's just a question of whether we run him somewhere between now and the Leger or we go straight to the Leger and have another run after that at the back-end of the season. That is the conversation that needs to be had.
'He had a couple of easy weeks as the main priority was to get the horse out of Ireland in good shape and back cantering and we've done that, so the tough bit now is deciding what to do next.
'They're nice decisions to have to make, I wouldn't mind plenty more of them.'