We remain in limbo between the jumps and Flat seasons, a time that can be difficult to warm to given changing ground conditions and limited form comparisons.
Saturday was a prime example of this unsettled state as the racing programme featured five jumps meetings with just three Flat alternatives, only one of which was a UK prime-time afternoon meeting. This came just one week after Lincoln Day at Doncaster.
I have to admit that I’m not a fan of this schedule, and I know plenty others are in the same boat. Every year I’m wanting to jump straight into the turf Flat campaign only to be told to wait three weeks after Doncaster’s early-season showpiece meeting.
As such, I’ll keep the domestic analysis to a minimum here by focusing on just one performance. The horse in question is Al Qareem, who yet again proved his courage and tenacity by battling back to fend off the well-supported Mount Atlas in the new Listed Goliath Stakes at Musselburgh.
Karl Burke’s stayer may not be a bonafide Group 1 competitor, but you don’t need to be winning all the big prizes to become a crowd favourite and Al Qareem has certainly found himself in the latter category. Regardless of how a race is run, Al Qareem tries his hardest and that's all you can ask of a horse.
Saturday’s affair was a stop-start contest with numerous surges in the middle part of the race. It became a true stamina test and Al Qareem predictably lasted out the 1m6f trip best, eventually recording a Finishing Speed Percentage of 104.05% with a final speed of 31.79mph. You will see faster final furlongs than the 13.33s he clocked, but it was more than enough to wear down his foe and give him a 13th career success.
The Flat sphere lacks stalwarts who return at the top of their game every year, but Al Qareem is somewhat filling that void. He has now amassed total prize-money of £824,425 and it would be great to see him get near the £1 million mark before his racing career comes to an end.
Percy replaces Zany as Kentucky Oaks favourite
The beginning of the Keeneland Spring meet on Friday and Saturday provided the penultimate ‘big’ day of Kentucky trials. The fillies were first up in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, a race that provided a bit of a shock as long-term ante-post favourite Zany could only finish second behind the Ben Colebrook-trained Percy’s Bar.
Firms have reacted to this defeat by making the latter the new ante-post market leader for the fillies’ Classic at the start of May, but my personal belief is that we will see a form reversal next month. Not only did Percy’s Bar get a dream passage through on the rail, but she also had a slow pace to chase, which emphasised her strongest asset: her turn of foot.
The field went through the first four furlongs in a very tepid 50.37s, which is roughly three-to-four seconds (between 15 and 20 lengths) slower than what you should anticipate at Churchill Downs in just over three weeks’ time. The pace only started to drastically increase with two furlongs to run, and Percy’s Bar was able to clock an 11.96s furlong between the seventh and eighth furlong. That compares to Zany’s 12.29s.
Zany was not only unfavoured by the shape of the race, but also inconvenienced by her position as she sat four-wide on the track, while Percy’s Bar saved ground on the favoured rail. Once she got up to top gear and organised herself at the top of the home straight, she kicked in the overdrive and actually clocked a faster final furlong (12.11s) than the winner (12.17s). On the gallop out she was eroding the deficit further. A stronger pace should elicit a different result next time.
Further Ado strengthens Kentucky Derby claims
The colts were given their chance at Keeneland 24 hours later and the Brad Cox-trained Further Ado took his opportunity well with an effortless 11-length success under Irad Ortiz jnr. This was a big step back in the right direction for the son of Gun Runner, who is now as short at 9/2 for the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
This victory, which came in a final time of 1:49.58s (around 1.7s slower than the track record), was Further Ado’s third success from his last four starts, his sole defeat coming when runner-up in the Tampa Bay Derby in March. Despite his wide-margin success, it wasn’t even his most impressive display given he won his maiden at Keeneland by a whopping 20 lengths.
Punters will now have an interesting dilemma. Do they bet this colt on the basis of his wide-margin success in a coveted Derby trial? Or do they come to the conclusion that he only appears this good around Keeneland? I’m in the latter camp at this stage, especially considering the two horses he beat into the places on Saturday won’t get anywhere near the Derby final field.
Groundhog Day in Hong Kong
It felt ridiculous to completely ignore the fact that Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising racked up his 19th consecutive victory with another emphatic success, this time in the Group 2 Sprint Cup Stakes on Monday morning. Not only that, but he broke his own six-furlong track record yet again by crossing the line in 1:07.12s. What a phenom.
David Hayes’ five-year-old is a superstar and clearly one of the best sprinters there has ever been and, as such, I don’t want to knock him in any regard as that would be exceptionally unfair. However, a part of me would love to see him under different race conditions so we get an even clearer picture of his true ability.
Every time you watch Ka Ying Rising race, he breaks well, sits on the shoulder of the inferior leader, and quickens clear around the same circuit. It’s metronomic, but a touch repetitive for a neutral viewer.
Either a different venue, better opposition, or watching him overcome a disadvantageous situation would make his contests more interesting to the general racing public, most of whom will never get to see him race in person. If you watched a top-quality football team win 4-0 in the same manner every time they play, the joy of their easy victories would slowly become a touch monotonous for all that you would continue to respect their superiority and fine tuning.
Royal Ascot, please?
