Loving Spirit

There was a lot going on in the Victoria Cup at Ascot on Saturday, there were plenty of hard luck stories (Lightning Cloud saw too much daylight too early, Dream Tune raced on his own on the far side) but Loving Spirit’s ill-luck in-running appears to have gone largely under the radar, and he can be marked up a fair bit for this run.

Travelling well out the back in the early stages, he and Jamesie both went for the same gap two furlongs out, but Robert Havlin took back on his horse as Born To Surprise was edging into him from the other side, and that allowed Jamesie to have the gap. In that incident, Loving Spirit’s winning chance probably evaporated, and he remained short of room all the way to the furlong pole, at which point he switched inside Jamesie. From there, he ran on best of all to the line to be closest at the finish in eighth place, beaten less than five lengths.

James Toller’s horse has yet to add to a Newmarket maiden win on his debut, but he is generally consistent, he goes well over seven furlongs and a mile, he goes well at Ascot or on Polytrack (he was second, beaten just a head by the ultra-progressive Jack Dexter, in the Apprentice Handicap on British Champions’ Day last year), and there still could be a race like this in him, possibly even the Royal Hunt Cup. The London Mile Series Final at Kempton, in which he was third last year, is another option for him again too. He may remain under the radar for now, and he will be of interest wherever he goes next.

11th May 2013