Place In My Heart

Place In My Heart is the horse for me to take out of the three-year-old six-furlong heritage handicap on the Friday of Newmarket’s July Meeting.

Drawn in stall six, George Baker’s filly was one of the seven to race on the near side, but she was not right under the rail as the eventual first and third, Fulbright and Gatepost, were. She was a little keen early on, which wasn’t ideal on this step back up in trip, but she travelled into the race well. She had to switch four off the rail to challenge though, and on top of that she was carried right out into the centre of the course when she was asked to pick up as Gatepost drifted quite markedly to his left. She did well to see off Gatepost in the centre of the course but just had to give best to Fulbright who stuck to the stands rail throughout, and that was probably the fastest part of the track, at least for the first two days of the meeting.

The daughter of Compton Place saw out the six-furlong trip well, which had been a slight doubt beforehand, and she is nicely progressive now. She had finished second to Jwala, a half-sister to Airwave, in a fast-time race at Bath on her previous outing, and this was an even better effort. She proved she handles genuinely soft ground here, but she could be even more effective back on better ground, on which they should go a faster pace, which should help her settle better. She is only three, this was just her seventh race, and she could continue to progress through the sprinting ranks.

13th July 2012