Lahaleeb

The other horse to take out of the Solonaway Stakes, as hot a Group 3 race as you will get, as well as the winner Border Patrol was Lahaleeb. Mick Channon’s filly had no luck at all in-running. Settled at the back of the field and on the inside by Darryll Holland, she was initially unlucky that they didn’t swing wide towards the stands rail as they often do on soft ground. If they had, she would have had no traffic worries, she would have been able to make her ground on the outside of the field. But with Johnny Murtagh taking Poet down the far rail, and the rest of the field following, Lahaleeb was always going to need the gaps to appear, and she didn’t get them. Holland initially went to go between Chintz on the rail and King Jock on her outside, but that gap closed. Then he tried to go through the half gap that appeared between Chintz and the rail, but that was never really a runner. Then, as King Jock faded, he went to go outside Chintz, but Zafisio rolled down towards him to fill that gap and he had to snatch up quite badly. Finally, he pulled outside Chintz when the race was well over, and the filly made progress under hardly any effort from her rider to just take fourth spot from Rayeni.

Lahaleeb is much better than this. A progressive juvenile last season, she won the Fred Darling on her debut this season. She disappointed on ground that was far too fast for her in the 1000 Guineas, but ran a cracker to finish second to Again in the Irish version. She is a high class filly on soft ground over a mile, and there should be a decent prize in her now before the end of the season. She might be under-estimated now. She would not be out of place at all in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on 3rd October if the ground happened to come up soft.

13th September 2009