LIFE OF A LORD, the first horse to win the Galway Plate in successive years since Ross Sea in 1964 and 1965, faces a daunting task in his bid to become the first to win the Kerry National back to back at Listowel this afternoon.

Rated 142 when he won the race last year he was raised to 164 after his second Plate win, and that is just 7lb behind Gold Cup winner Imperial Call.

On paper, Life Of A Lord has little chance of reversing Plate form with Bishops Hall, now 7lb better off for a length and a half beating and not to mention King Wah Glory, third in the Plate and 8lb better for nine and a half lengths and not overly lucky in running.

Nevertheless, connections elected to go for today's feature rather than a £110,000 to the winner chase at Merano, Northern Italy this week. Unless there is an absolute deluge overnight the ground should remain in his favour - a remark that also applies to Bishops Hall.

However, 12st 3lb is a formidable burden to carry but this big chaser is up to carrying weight. The question is can he concede so much to such as Bishops Hall who is now ridden by Frank Woods as Richard Dunwoody is unable to do the weight.

Bishops Hall was subsequently beaten into fourth place behind An Maineach at Tralee, but the ground was not in his favour and the two and a half miles was short of his best. Second Schedual finished comfortably ahead of him and this dual course winner could well do so again. However, he was a well beaten fourth in the Plate.

King Wah Glory has obvious claims, especially if the ground remains good but I am not satisfied he is in love with chasing. He is rated higher over hurdles. King Wah Glory is ridden by Trevor Horgan as Conor O'Dwyer cannot do the weight. O'Dwyer rides Opera Hat who likes soft ground and may conceivably need this race.

Good jumping ground will suit Lord Singapore, pulled up in An Maineach's race at Tralee but in need of the outing. He ran well on three occasions at Punchestown, especially in the valuable Heineken Gold Cup. Beakstown is on the upgrade and had a length to spare when beating Jassu in a good finish at Galway with Anabatic relegated to third place.