Consul De Thaix

Weak in the market before the two-mile handicap hurdle at Sandown last Saturday, Consul De Thaix probably wasn’t suited by the sedate pace that they went through the early stages of the race, and he wasn’t helped by a mistake at the third flight. Well back early on, he got a little outpaced when they quickened on the run into the home straight, but he picked up when his stamina kicked in on the run between the last two flights. It never really looked like he was going to get to his stable companion Brain Power, who travelled supremely well into the race and who eased his way to the front, but he closed on him all the way to the line, and he was closest at the finish.

This was just Consul De Thaix’s fourth run ever and just his third in Britain. He could improve significantly on this. He has never won, he is eligible for maiden hurdles, but he will be of greater interest now in a good handicap hurdle in which the early pace will be strong. The handicapper raised him 3lb to a mark of 135, which is fair. He holds an entry in the old Ladbroke Hurdle at Ascot next weekend, and he will be of interest if he lines up in that.

3^rd December 2016