Derg Bids For Merit Bonus Lough Derg´s owner William Frewen is not exactly overflowing with confidence about his horse´s chances of wresting the Order Of Merit from Kauto Star at Ayr this weekend. With just six points separating the pair for the #200,000 season-long prize, fourth place will suffice in the Samsung Electronics Scottish Champion Hurdle. It will be another battle between the West Country duo of David Pipe and Paul Nicholls, with Pipe´s Lough Derg having to stave off the champion trainer´s attempt to help Kauto Star hold on. Nicholls will saddle Sporazene and Takeroc, second to Tidal Bay when last seen over fences at Aintree earlier in the month. "I really think it´s a one in 20 chance that he´ll do it," said Frewen. "He´s top weight and has not run over two miles in four years. There are normally very few entries but there are a lot, including some interesting ones down the bottom of the weights. "Mr Nicholls has put some in, which he´s entitled to do. I´m totally not-confident and never take it too seriously but you will see a hopelessly out of control man in the grandstand at Ayr if he does it." Frewen, a fund manager in the City, has had a number of horses with Pipe and his father Martin over the years including Idaho d´Ox, Anatar and Lunar Crystal, but this is the first running in his own colours. With three Graded wins from 10 attempts this season, Lough Derg has exceeded all possible hopes. "It has been very unexpected," he added. "I remember right back at the start of the season in the Ascot Hurdle, David and Martin were thinking of not running him. "I said ?I´ve had a terrible week and I´d really like to see him run´. They were concerned he would embarrass us, but he ran really well and came third. "Then when he ran away with the Long Walk Hurdle we started to have a serious think about the Order Of Merit. We thought it would just be a bit of fun to see what happens." The icing on the cake was when the gelding clawed back a 15-length deficit to lift the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell. Frewen continued: "It was a wonderful day, although having jockeys in tears is always very embarrassing! I think we were helped by the others a bit and My Way De Solzen probably wasn´t quite wound up anyway. "Tom Scudamore says he´s better this season, but he really loves Ascot and on a few occasions one or two of the best horses haven´t turned up. When they have done, we´ve been quite well beaten. "He ran OK on the Thursday at Aintree to be fourth. It was a bit of a gamble to run him again at the meeting, but he´s always bucking and squealing when he comes back home. "The girl who looks after him has the final call on whether he runs and I would hate to be accused of abusing him. "We could have run over fences in a couple of races instead but it doesn´t seem right to do that and this is the last chance." As well as having to worry about the Nicholls-trained duo, the progressive Pearl King, Kalahari King and Ignotus feature in the 17-runner field. (C) PA Sport
