Smart Striking

Smart Striking did well to get up and beat Anam Chara in a competitive seven-furlong fillies’ handicap at Galway, and she looks like a progressive filly now. She broke well enough from her inside draw to track the leaders on the rail for apprentice jockey Ben Curtis. She didn’t appear to be travelling as well as the leader was when they turned for home, but she stayed on well up Galway’s stiff uphill finish to get to and pass Anam Chara inside the final furlong, winning a shade cosily in the end.

This was a nice performance from John Oxx’s filly, she had been well-backed all day for this and went off a warm favourite. The handicapper had raised her 8lb for an impressive win at Leopardstown on her previous run, when she wore blinkers for the first time, but she defied that hike with a bit to spare here, with the headgear on again, which seems to have helped her a lot. This was a typically competitive Galway handicap, and they went a solid gallop all the way. It is a stiff seven furlongs, she stayed it well, and she could improve again for stepping up to a mile. She is progressive anyway, this was only her fifth start and, although the handicapper has raised her another 6lb for this, there could be a lot more to come and she should be worth following again.

29th July 2010