29th-Jun-2013

Nabucco looked a promising horse in his three maidens last season and he has shaped encouragingly in his two races to date this term. He is favourite for this, but he is the 4/1 favourite, and he is worth backing at that.

He did well to keep on as well as he did to finish second to the useful Niceofyoutotellme over today’s course and distance on his most recent run, given that he sat prominently behind a decent pace. He was pushed up leaving the stalls by William Buick to adopt a prominent position, and he raced in a close third for most of the race, whereas the winner came from last, and the other two horses who filled the first four places were also in the rear trio until half a mile from home.

Nabucco looked to have every chance three furlongs out but he just took a while to wear down those in front of him. It wasn’t until deep inside the final furlong that he got to the front and, while he found plenty for pressure once he did, to edge away from the third and fourth horses, he couldn’t hold off the sustained challenge of the winner on his outside.

It may be that we won’t see the best of the John Gosden-trained colt until he steps up to a mile and a half, but the ground was on the easy side of good last night at Newmarket, and it could also be that the easier ground will see him in a better light today. He was a close second to the useful soft-ground horse Signed Up in a maiden at Sandown on soft ground last season before comfortably beating the subsequent Melrose winner Guarantee on good to soft ground in a Windsor maiden.

Ryan Moore takes the ride today and, as well as obviously being a top-class jockey, he has a 32% strike rate when riding for John Gosden over the past five seasons.

NABUCCO WON (ADV 4/1, SP 9/4)