Sweetheart

Sweetheart stayed on really well to land the two-mile-five-furlong handicap at Goodwood on Wednesday. Well enough back early on, Liam Jones made his move on the outside as they went up the hill on the far side as the pace steadied a bit. It is not ideal to be making up ground going uphill, but it brought the Sinndar filly closer to the pace, and that was where you needed to be. Jones kicked her on fully three furlongs out, and she stayed on really well all the way to the line to repel the challenge of the useful Tyrrells Wood, another of Sinndar’s offspring. This was Sweethear’s first attempt at a distance in excess of two miles on the flat – in fairness, there aren’t many opportunities – but it was hardly surprising that she would improve for stepping up to this type of distance, given that she finished second to United in a three-mile mares’ hurdle at Ascot last January. She is at her best given an extreme test such as this, and she would be of big interest in the Cesarewitch if the ground came up on the easy side. Her new rating of 80, 8lb higher than the mark off which she won on Wednesday, still leaves her lots of room for manoeuvre over marathon trips on the flat.

29th July 2009