Jake’s Destiny

The performance that Jake’s Destiny put up in the one-mile handicap that began Doncaster’s St Leger day on Saturday can be marked up as the drying ground would not have been in his favour. He did well to finish so close given the conditions.

George Baker’s gelding travelled nicely in the hands of Paul Hanagan, but he probably sat a little too close to a strong pace – at half way he was a length or so in front of the winner with the eventual second further behind and the eventual third well in rear. When Hanagan asked him to pick up, it appeared as if he was feeling the ground a little, he hung to his left and didn’t seem to want to let himself down. That said, he kept on well enough through the final furlong under what was, understandably, a conservative enough ride from Hanagan in the circumstances.

The son of Desert Style was the only three-year-old in the race, and he acquitted himself well in the circumstances. It is to his credit that he was still able to lay down some sort of challenge to three top-of-the-ground horses. The time was really good, 1.68 seconds under standard, just a fraction slower comparatively than the time that Doc Hay clocked in winning the Portland, and quicker comparatively than the Group 2 Park Stakes later on the card in which Lethal Force set a decent pace. The times tell you that the ground was lightning fast, despite the official description of good, and it was probably just too quick for Jake’s Destiny to be at his best. He should be much better back on an easier surface.

He probably won’t get into the Cambridgeshire from a mark of 90 as a three-year-old, but he would be of interest if he did sneak into the bottom of the weights. This was just the seventh race of his life, and he has lots of scope for progression. He will be of interest wherever he runs next, in the assumption that the ground will have eased by then, and he could make an even better four-year-old.

15th September 2012