Horses To Follow » Chaperno

Chaperno

It was only a Class 4 median auction maiden that Chaperno won at York on Saturday, but there was an awful lot to like about the way he did it. Settled just behind the front rank by Frankie Dettori, he took a nice hold, moved through nicely to join the front rank two furlongs out, sat there disputing the lead until they got to the furlong pole, then showed an impressive turn of foot when Dettori asked him, to pull right away from his field. This didn’t look like a great race beforehand, but you can only ever beat what is put in front of you, and Chaperno couldn’t have been more impressive in so doing. The time was slower than standard on a day when the ground was flying, but it was still relatively faster than the Class 3 nursery that opened the meeting, and it looked like Chaperno was nowhere near maximum effort. The son of More Than Ready, a $120,000 yearling, seemed to appreciate this better ground more than the easy ground on which he was beaten at Newcastle at the end of last month, and he should be a juvenile worth watching.

11th July 2009