Silaah

Silaah was drawn on the wrong side in a five-furlong handicap at Ayr on Friday, so he did remarkably well to finish fourth overall. He took a keen hold early on, but he settled and travelled up well to take it up on his own side a furlong out. He couldn’t go with Hazelrigg or the others on the near side, but he did well to finish so close to them in the end, racing on what was almost certainly the slowest part of the track on the day.

Mentioned here almost exactly a year ago when he finished a good second in a classified stakes race at Haydock, on what was just his second run for Dandy Nicholls, he is worth another mention on the back of this run. He was easily the best horse in the group that raced on the far side, which was a fair performance given that this was his first run over five furlongs and that he ran fairly freely early on, and he may have been the best horse in the race on the day. He wasn’t seen at his best in Dubai during the spring, but he bounced right back to form on his previous run to this, coming from off the pace to win well in first-time cheekpieces at Carlisle, beating Esprit De Midas, who has gone on and won since. This was his first run over five furlongs, he does have the pace for it, but he should prove to be even better stepped up again to six, given that he has won over as far as seven furlongs.

17th September 2010