Roger Sez

Roger Sez has taken the eye a couple of times this season and she did so again at Doncaster on Thursday in a fillies’ nursery over six and a half furlongs, the first race on the second day of the St Leger meeting. Notably weak in the market just before the off, she was done no favours when she was squeezed out early in the race as Besito came across her, with the result that she dropped back to the rear of the field. She came under pressure with fully half a mile to run and she looked in big trouble as they approached the three-furlong marker. She started to make ground as they came inside the final quarter-mile though, taken to her left to the outside by David Allan to try to tackle the two leaders, but those two quickened up from the front and Roger Sez was too far back to get close to them. She stayed on well to take fourth though, only just failing to catch Responsive for third.

It is slightly worrying that she came under pressure so early in this race, but that could well be down to the form of the yard, by the end of the week Tim Easterby had had just one winner from 52 runners in September, and Roger Sez may have been under the weather. Whether that was the case or not, the way she picked up in the final third of this race was encouraging and suggests that she may be suited now to a step up beyond this six-and-a-half-furlong trip. The fact that there is stamina on the dam’s side of her pedigree gives extra credence to that view.

It could well be that this was a useful race and even finishing fourth may be a decent level of form. The front two were fairly unexposed coming into the race, certainly in handicap company, and the third filly, Responsive, had finished fifth in a Listed race at Salisbury the previous week and was due to go up 9lb after this race. There was a gap between the second and third, but there was also a break back to the fifth and a further gap to the sixth.

Tim Easterby’s filly was actually 2lb well-in here, she went up 2lb for her good run in the Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy 10 days previously, but this run suggests that she could still be well handicapped. It does look as if she will improve for stepping up to seven furlongs now and she could have more progression in her, especially when the yard is back in better form.

8th September 2011