Desert Phantom

Desert Phantom looks interesting after his run in a five-furlong handicap at Haydock on Saturday. He looked to have a big chance coming off a promising run at Leicester on his previous start, but he missed the break, got bumped leaving the stalls, and he never seemed to recover. He tried to make his ground on the far side as the race developed on the near side, and although he did make a bit of headway, he was never getting to the leaders, and William Buick just let him come home in his own time inside the final furlong.

This son of Arch was a high class two-year-old, he was unbeaten in his first three starts, after which he was thought good enough to go over to Longchamp for the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere that takes place on Arc weekend. He has had his problems since, he only ran once as a three-year-old and it has taken him a while to get going so far this season, but his previous two runs were promising, he may have hit the front too soon at Yarmouth when he finished third behind Brave Prospector, and he was only beaten a head by the consistent Noodles Blue Boy on his next run at Leicester.

David Simcock’s colt could be on a fairly handy mark now, especially that he seems to be improving. It could be that he is under-rated after this performance, he is worth another chance after performing well below expectations in a race in which he had excuses.

25th September 2010