Hot Prospect

Hot Prospect ran a lot better than his finishing position in fifth place suggests in a good 10-furlong three-year-old heritage handicap at Newmarket on Thursday. Settled out the back by Philip Robinson in the early stages, the Michael Jarvis-trained colt was disputing last place when they made their turn, about nine furlongs out. Tom Queally was able to steady the pace on the ultimate 40/1 winner Circumvent, which wasn’t to Hot Prospect’s advantage given that he was well back in field. He did remarkably well to get into the race from here, he was the only one to get into it from the back, with the four horses who finished in front of him all racing handily throughout. Even at that, he was checked in his run a couple of times as he sought to make progress, just when his run was gathering a bit of momentum.

Hot Prospect ran in the Derby on his previous start, and he finished third in the Lingfield Derby trial behind Bullet Train before that, when the slow early pace didn’t suit. This was his first run in a handicap, and he didn’t appear to be getting in lightly off a mark of 101, but there was much to like about his performance. He picked up well when asked for his effort, he came from the back in a race in which it paid to race handily, and he would have finished even closer had he not been hampered a furlong out. The son of Motivator is still lightly raced, he is open to more improvement, he will be better off a faster pace, he may be even better stepped back up to a mile and a half, and the handicapper has only raised him 2lb for this, which is fair. There should be a good 10 or 12 furlong handicap in with him, and he will be of interest wherever he is seen next.

8th July 2010