Lough seeking to join elite group Carlingford Lough returns to one of his favourite stomping grounds as he bids for a third victory in the Stan James Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday. Should John Kiely's charge bring up the hat-trick, he would join a select club by equalling Jodami's three wins in the Grade One with only Florida Pearl, who won four renewals, ranking any better in the history of the race. Carlingford Lough has struck five times at the highest level, with his three Leopardstown wins supplemented by two successes at Punchestown. Only seen once this season when a respectable fourth to Jezki over hurdles, he is the pick of three JP McManus-owned runners for jockey Barry Geraghty, with the Jonjo O'Neill-trained pair of Minella Rocco and More Of That also sporting the green and gold silks. "He's been a very consistent horse down the years, particularly at Leopardstown and Punchestown where he seems to excel," said McManus' racing manager Frank Berry. "He's been a horse we've had a lot of success with and he's been very lucky for us. "John is very happy with him at the moment and obviously it would be great to win it for a third time. "He was late starting back this season, he had a few little niggly problems, so it was decided this would be his big aim again. "He's back in good form once more and we're hoping for the best." O'Neill's pair have both yet to strike, with Minella Rocco, who beat Native River in the four-miler at Cheltenham last season, finishing third on his return at Cheltenham in November before falling last time out at Aintree when battling it out with the ill-fated Many Clouds. More Of That remains the only horse to have beaten Annie Power when lifting the 2014 World Hurdle, but has yet to hit anywhere near the same heights over fences and was last seen when finishing sixth in the Lexus at Christmas. "It looked like it would have been a good run (for Minella Rocco) at Aintree if he'd stood up, especially given poor Many Clouds won again at Cheltenham," said Berry. "His first run of the season in a handicap was also good so he's progressing. Jonjo is happy with him so we decided to run him in a Grade One to see where we are with him. "More Of That ran reasonably well in the Lexus, it was a bit better than his earlier runs. With both of them we'll know a lot more about where they are heading after this. With Minella we'll know if he's a Gold Cup horse or a National one. "Hopefully they come back safe and we can start making plans."
