Gunner Lindley

Gunner Lindley emerges with a huge amount of credit for the way in which he won the 20-runner Class 2 Coral.co.uk Stakes at York on Saturday. Right up in front rank throughout, he took up the running a long way out and fought off all challengers. The pace was generous and Gunner Lindley was clearly the best horse on the day, as he may well not have been advantaged by leading, given that the others who raced prominently dropped away inside the final two furlongs, and that the second and third horses, Pintura and Osteopathic Remedy, both came from well off the pace, the latter being just about last half a mile out. Gunner Lindley found plenty in the closing stages despite having done a lot of work in the race already; when Pintura came with a strong looking run, the winner was able to pull out more and was comfortably holding the runner-up inside the final 50 yards.

Barry Hills’s colt has been largely consistent all season, running well in some good handicaps, despite this being his first victory of the campaign. His last two runs have been his best of the year – he was only just nutted on the line on his previous run by Dance And Dance, with subsequent Cambridgeshire winner Credit Swap a head and a nose back in fourth – and while it is impossible to draw any firm conclusion yet, it seems likely that either the soft ground, or the step back up to a mile, or both, are key factors in his improvement.

9th October 2010