Abbey Angel

Abbey Angel can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of the performance that she put up in finishing fourth behind Field Of Fame in the 10-furlong handicap at Newmarket on Saturday.

Held up towards the rear of the field behind a fast pace through the early stages of the race, Paul Hanagan asked her to get closer to the leaders from the four-furlong pole. She was making promising headway from there out towards the centre of the track, and she was travelling better than a lot of her rivals around her, when Urban Moon moved a little to his right and squeezed her up. Hanagan had to snatch up and take her back, forfeiting ground and momentum. No better than 10th or 11th of the 13 runners after that incident, she got going again out in the centre of the track and, as Uele River and Field Of Fame duelled up front, she made nice ground from the rear out in the centre of the track to finish fourth, closest at the finish.

This was much more like it from Richard Fahey’s filly. She was progressive towards the end of last season as a juvenile, her record in nurseries in August and September last year reads 121, and she progressive 16lb on official ratings, but she hasn’t yet won this term, and her previous two runs were fairly disappointing. They were both on fast ground however, and, while she has won on fast ground, it may be that she is at her best on good ground or slightly softer. This 10 furlongs appears to be her optimum trip, it appeared that she didn’t fully see out 12 furlongs on her penultimate run on her only attempt at that distance. Ten furlongs on easy ground is probably optimal for her now, and she will be of interest under those conditions now in the autumn. The handicapper raised her 1lb for Saturday’s run, but that is fair, she should be able to win a handicap off her new mark of 84. She appears to go particularly well at Pontefract, the long pull up the home straight there appears to suit her well.

29^th August 2015