The Cheka

The Cheka did well to win the Listed Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday on what was his first ever run at six furlongs. He had the pace to adopt a handy position behind the pace-setting Mayson, Neil Callan pulled him out to challenge coming inside the final two furlongs and, although it briefly looked as though last year’s winner Jimmy Styles had stolen a march with a furlong to run, The Cheka ultimately got to him quite readily when Callan really asked him to pick up inside the final furlong, and he actually won a shade comfortably in the end.

The drop down to six furlongs suited Eve Johnson-Houghton’s horse well, as it had threatened to do for a while, on the evidence of his last three runs last season at least. He does go well fresh, he has been close to his best first time out in the past, so he has to go and do it again now, but he is consistent and he should be able to go on from this now that it appears that a strongly-run six furlongs could be his optimum. The Grade 2 Duke Of York Stakes at York looks an obvious race for him now and, versatile ground-wise, he could well make up into a high-class sprinter this term.

31st March 2012