Quick Wit

Quick Wit could hardly have been more impressive in winning on his seasonal debut, in what looked beforehand like a competitive one-mile handicap at Nottingham on Wednesday. Frankie Dettori didn’t hang around with the Godolphin horse early on, sending him to the front after he broke smartly. He set a fairly decent gallop as well, it looked like he may have possibly gone too fast at one stage, but as they turned into the straight, it was clear that he was still travelling well within himself. He probably could have been called the winner well over two furlongs out, but what was most impressive was the way the son of Oasis Dream was able to maintain the strong gallop that he had set from flagfall. His rivals simply couldn’t live with it, and Dettori had the luxury of being able to ease him down inside the final furlong.

There was a lot to like about Quick Wit’s performance here. Firstly, this was his first run in 334 days and he was running against horses that had been competing all season and so had race-fitness on their side. Given that, it makes the way the race panned out look all the more impressive. Quick Wit set his own pace, with two useful sorts in Space War and Lucky Windmill just in behind him through the early stages. In the end those two simply couldn’t live with the pace set by Saeed Bin Suroor’s horse, and they ended up finishing third last and second-last. Further evidence that Quick Wit set a fast pace comes from the winning time, which was the fastest comparative time per furlong on the day, and at least two and a half seconds faster than all three of the other races run over the same distance on the card.

The Godolphin horse had last been seen in October of last year, when he was an impressive winner of a Newmarket maiden that has produced plenty of winners since. He wasn’t sure to get a mile on pedigree, but this race was actually run over an extended mile and he got it really well. He should be able to progress now, this was only his fourth-ever run, his first of the season and he will be very interesting if seen again this year. Even if he isn’t, he remains an exciting prospect for next season.

29th September 2010