Forte Dei Marmi

Forte Dei Marmi continued his progression to take a competitive and valuable 10-furlong handicap at Sandown on Saturday. He travelled like the best horse in the race, he was the only one still on the bridle at the two-furlong pole, and he picked up really well off the fast pace with a well-timed to challenge to beat Hanoverian Baron, despite being slightly hampered inside the final furlong.

Luca Cumani’s gelding only won by a length, but he was value for much more than that. He usually travels well through his races, but he appears to only have just a short finishing burst, and that was perfectly deployed here by Jean-Paul Guillambert, coming off the strong pace with a well-timed challenge. He proved here that he could stay a fast-run 10 furlongs, the form of the race looks solid, with Hanoverian Baron, Sandor and Cumulus Nimbus all chasing him home, and the time of the race was the fastest comparative time of the day.

Forte Dei Marmi did disappoint at York on his previous run, where his rider reported that he had lost his action, but that was the second time in two runs this season that he under-performed at York and it may be that he just doesn’t act on the track. A lot of horses don’t. He won his other three races this season really well, and he remains highly progressive. The handicapper has raised him just 4lb for this, which may prove to be really lenient, and he has to be on your shortlist for the Cambridgeshire now, if that is his target, although it would be a worry if the ground came up too soft at Newmarket on 2nd October.

21st August 2010