Look Here

Look Here ran a race that was full of merit when beaten the width of a sheet of tracing paper into third place in the Coronation Cup at Epsom on Friday. I thought beforehand that odds of 9/2 were very short about her. Okay, so she was a really good Oaks winner over the course and distance on the same day last year, but that was against fillies. She was taking on hardened colts on Friday, and I had been a bit disappointed with her run in the St Leger when she last took on the boys. Also, this was her seasonal debut, her first run since the St Leger, and she was entitled to come on for it.

On top of all of that, she didn’t get the run of the race. She sat in last place off no more than a reasonable pace, she had to come four or five horse-widths wide around Tattenham Corner, widest of all, and she made her ground on the stands side on her own, with nothing to race with her for the final two and a half furlongs. Perhaps there was an advantage to be gleaned from racing wide up the home straight on Friday at Epsom, where the camber is at its least severe, and she did avoid the scrimmaging that went on on the far rail, but even so, it was a fine performance to make up about four lengths on Ask and three on Youmzain between the three-furlong pole and the line. Although she nearly nutted them, she went down by a nose and the same in the end, she was never really getting there, and Ask was about four lengths in front of her when they began to pull up, but it was still a huge effort from Look Here. If she improves just a little from this, she can be competitive against the colts this season.

5th June 2009