Mass Rally

Mass Rally put up a nice performance on his seasonal debut in a seven-furlong Class 3 handicap at Sandown on Saturday. John Gosden’s colt travelled well back in the field, which didn’t appear to be an advantage at Sandown on Friday and Saturday with very few winners coming from far off the pace. He was still last at the two furlong marker, but he produced a strong run inside the final two furlongs between runners and just failed to catch the well-backed Kakatosi.

The son of Kheleyf was progressive on the all-weather last season – he won twice after two decent placed efforts – when he usually wore a tongue-tie, but the tongue tie was left off here on his seasonal debut. He proved here that he can be just as effective on turf as he is on the all-weather, he is still lightly-raced, this was just his seventh start, and he can go on from this now. He was making his seasonal debut quite late here, which suggests he may have had at least a minor setback early in the season. He will be of interest wherever he goes next, especially if the tongue tie is back on.

3rd July 2010