Mawatheeq

Put up here after he won a 10-furlong handicap at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, Mawatheeq put up an even bigger performance to land the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes over a mile and a half at Ascot on Sunday. Held up out the back behind a fairly strong looking pace that was set by Drill Sergeant, he came wide into the home straight, forsaking ground, but it didn’t matter. The progress that Hamdan Al Maktoum’s colt made on the outside of the entire field when asked by Richard Hills was really impressive. He ranged up alongside Campanologist who had gone for home on the far side, and simply ran past him. The race over shortly after they had left the furlong pole behind, and Hills was able to ease up inside the final 100 yards.

Mawatheeq is a really exciting colt now. This was just his third run of the season, just his seventh ever, he has had his problems, but he has always been highly regarded and it looks like he now has every chance of realising the loftiest of expectations that his connections have had for him. There is talk now of supplementing him to the Champion Stakes, and that makes a lot of sense. The ease with which he won this race, against horses who are better than Group 3 class, suggests that he will be well at home in Group 1 company. Hamdan Al Maktoum won the Cumberland Lodge with Nayef in 2001 before that horse went on to win the Champion Stakes three weeks later, and it would not be at all surprising if Mawatheeq were to follow suit.

27th September 2009