Kyllachy Star

Kyllachy Star showed an impressive turn of foot to defy top weight in the seven-furlong three-year-old handicap at Sandown on Saturday. Held up out the back in the early stages, and actually niggled along to keep up through the first couple of furlongs, he was stone last turning for home. Tony Hamilton decided to go inside between horses instead of pulling out wide, trusting to fortune, and it looked for a long time as if it wasn’t going to happen for him. He and eventual runner-up Greensward went for the same gap two furlongs out, but Greensward had a half a length on him and took the gap, with the result that Hamilton had to snatch up and start again. It took Kyllachy Star a couple of strides to pick up after that, which was totally forgivable after his momentum had been halted, and he had to switch outside Greensward again to deliver his challenge, but once he got in the clear, he picked up really impressively, and surged clear to win by an ever-extending two lengths.

Richard Fahey’s colt is now looking most progressive. He showed a really nice turn of foot to get up and nut Quanah Parker (he was odds against in the photo) in a 0-90 handicap at York last month, and he progressed again markedly from that run to win on Saturday off a 4lb higher mark, showing an even more impressive turn of foot. It looks like he will get a mile okay, his pedigree doesn’t suggest that he won’t, despite the fact that a lot of his siblings won over seven, and the slower pace of a race over that distance might help him travel better in the early stages than he did here. York is an easy track, but he did need every yard of the seven-furlong trip there to get up on his previous outing, and he could improve for the step up. The handicapper is bound to give him a bit of a hike for this, but he is progressive enough to take a fair hike in his stride, and he should be worth following wherever he goes next.

13th June 2009