Victoria Montoya

Victoria Montoya won the mile-and-six-furlong heritage handicap at Newmarket last Saturday well, staying on really well at the end to record a fairly emphatic win from Record Breaker and Young Mick, with Boz back in fourth. The race may not have been as strong as it looked at first glance, with the withdrawal of four of the 13 runners, including Sevenna, who had been well supported in the morning, and with Boz and Night Crescendo probably under-performing, but it was still a fine performance in a time that was just 0.07secs/furlong slower than Racing Post standard, by far the fastest of the day.

This was the High Chaparral filly’s first run of the season, it was just the 10th run of her life, she was unraced as a juvenile, and her rating of 78 obviously under-rated her ability. Trainer Andrew Balding thought that she would need this race, as she had suffered a slight setback in training, so she may come on appreciably for it. A 7lb hike looks more than fair, she should be able to take that type of hike in her stride, and she should be worth backing now in another similar contest. Balding was talking about the Cesarewitch for her later in the season and that makes a lot of sense. That race is run over this course and distance, and she has form on easy ground as well as good ground.

16th May 2009