Braveheart Move

Braveheart Move ran a cracker in the Kingspin Old Borough Cup, a valuable staying handicap run over 14 furlongs at Haydock on Saturday. He was the only one of those who raced prominently throughout to get involved in the finish and he can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form as a result. The son of Cape Cross led early on in the race, before Macarthur took over and went into a clear lead down the back, but Braveheart Move was always ahead of the chasing pack. He was the first to get to and pass Macarthur early in the home straight, but he came under severe pressure over two furlongs out when a wall of horses challenged from the back. To his credit, he kept on really well, despite his run being cut off a bit as Kansai Spirit and Crackenthorp converged, to finish third in the end.

They probably went too fast up front here as Macarthur opened up a clear lead on his rivals down the back before tiring up the straight. Most of the other horses who raced in the van tired as well, including Rangefinder, Becausewecan and Lady Eclair, who all ended up finishing well back, but Braveheart Move was able keep going to finish a highly creditable third. He was the only horse out of the first five who didn’t come from well off the pace. The son of Cape Cross was a progressive sort last year when trained by Sir Mark Prescott, he won four out of his seven races, and improved from a mark of 78 at the start of the season to 95 by the end. He was then moved to Jonjo O’Neill. He had four disappointing runs on soft ground over hurdles, but he is back on the flat now and he seems to be re-discovering his ability.

He ran well on his previous start over 10 furlongs at Goodwood, where he finished fourth having got outpaced over a trip which would have been inadequate for him and, on the evidence of this run, he may be better over even further. He probably doesn’t want the ground to be too soft, judging by his disappointing efforts over hurdles on an easy surface, but he is still relatively lightly-raced back on the flat and there could be more to come from him over longer distances.

4th September 2010