Sarkiyla

Sarkiyla was only fifth in the Group 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot last Wednesday, but she can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of her run, given that she was held up off a slow early pace.

The pace looked to be a little stop-start too, Sarkiyla lost ground at half way and she came under pressure early, she just didn’t have the cruising speed of the principals, most of whom were better positioned than her anyway. She had dropped right back to a share of last place two furlongs out before she ran on once in the clear late on, having pulled outside Chigun. She was never going to catch the high-class leaders into a quickening pace, but she kept on well from a furlong out, with Christophe Lemaire having accepted the situation and riding her just hands and heels through the final furlong.

The Alain De Royer-Dupre-trained filly would have been much better suited by a faster pace, or a longer trip than this straight mile, or both. Sarkiyla won over a mile and a quarter last season as a three-year-old and could be ready for a return to that trip now having been kept almost exclusively to a mile since then. Also, this was the first time she had encountered fast ground, and it may just all have been a bit of a shock to her.

The daughter of Oasis Dream has now been beaten on her last six runs, but she came very close to beating the talented Don Bosco on her previous run at Saint-Cloud, and she could just be under-rated a little now after this. She will be of particular interest if and when she runs again in Britain.

19th June 2013