Carr Owes A Debt To Sovereign

Lady O'Reilly's evergreen 8-year-old Sovereign Debt (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) continues to be in great heart since his switch to trainer Ruth Carr upon the retirement of Dandy Nicholls and he is reported to be in fine shape since his most recent win in the G2 Bet365 Mile at Sandown last Friday. That was the gelding's 13^th victory, his sixth at stakes level, and it brought his prize-money haul to date beyond the £700,000 mark. “He's come out the race really well. We're very happy with him and he's enjoying himself out in the paddock as normal,” said Carr. It was the second major win for the horse this year following his success in the £150,000 All-Weather Mile Championship at Lingfield Apr. 14 and the trainer's next challenge is to continue to place Sovereign Date to his best advantage, though she is slightly ruing the fact he has no upcoming Group 1 entries. “The really big Group One races over a mile are now closed, unfortunately, as I was not really thinking that would be the way to go with him. It would be quite nice for him to keep running in a grade he can do well in, though, so we'll have to sit down in the next few days and make a plan.” Sovereign Debt has been with three different trainers and has won in three different countries, showing a great affinity towards Irish tracks where he has won four times from nine visits, with victories at The Curragh, Tipperary and Leopardstown. A return trip across the water looks on the cards for the horse and Carr, who hadn't won a group race until Sovereign Debt came along, added, “He's run well before in Ireland and as he's such an easy horse to deal with and travels so well, that might be an option.”