Kalk Bay

Although he only had three rivals to beat, Kalk Bay was still a very impressive winner of a one-mile three-year-old handicap at Southwell on Tuesday, from 3lb out of the handicap. He missed the break slightly, and William Buick had to niggle him a bit to keep him up with the three others early on. But he travelled well into the straight, where Buick took him up the inside to get a run. He picked up well when in the clear, despite racing on his own away from the other three, going a couple of lengths up, before keeping on well to hold the late challenge of Sahara Kingdom.

This was a fairly decent handicap. The runner-up Sahara Kingdom was an impressive winner of his only two previous runs, he had a progressive profile coming into this and he came hard at Kalk Bay inside the final furlong, but William Haggas’s horse always looked to be holding him and he was probably value for more than the winning margin of a neck. They went a decent gallop, Aattash usually sets a fast pace and that was the case here, illustrated by the time which was the second-fastest on the day, and there was a decent gap back to the useful Mark Johnston-trained Secretive in third.

The son of Hawk Wing was unraced as a two-year-old and this was only his fifth-ever run. He has won three times already, and he gives the impression there could be a lot more to come. He could be a Lincoln horse for next season. He actually has a similar profile to this season’s winner Penitent, who was also trained by Haggas and who was also unraced as a two-year-old.

5th October 2010