Timeless Call

There should be several future winners coming out of last Saturday’s Rockingham Handicap at The Curragh but, of all the horses to note from the race, Timeless Call is probably the most noteworthy. She ran a cracker to finish as close as she did from stall one.

Six of the other seven horses who filled the first eight places were drawn in double figures, and the other one to come from a single-figure stall, Russian Soul, came from stall eight. Also, the first three home in the six-furlong maiden earlier on the card came from stalls eight, 10 and nine of 11 runners, with the horse drawn in stall 11 a 40/1 shot. The advantage that high-drawn horses enjoy on the straight track at The Curragh was very much in evidence at the weekend.

Timeless Call showed lots of pace down the centre of the track, she travelled nicely and picked up impressively two furlongs out, and looked a likely winner at the furlong pole before the advantage of the stands side started to tell. She was headed half a furlong out, but she still kept on well to finish a highly creditable fourth.

The race was run in a really good time, half a second faster than standard with no other times on the day even getting close to standard, and the three who beat her all came into the race in good form. The winner Whozthecat had won on his penultimate start and had finished second in the big Paddy Power Sprint on Irish Derby day on his most recent run, runner-up Nafa had won five of her previous seven in Britain, and third-placed Yulong Baoju was a lightly-raced, well-backed favourite who had won over course and distance on his previous run. The form looks really strong.

This was just Reggie Roberts’ mare’s second race this year (four months since her debut) and just the 14th of her life, so she is relatively lightly raced for a five-year-old sprinter. There is one of these big sprint handicaps in her now off her mark of 92.

She finished second behind subsequent Group 3 winner Ladies Are Forever at Lingfield on her debut this term, when she had the Wokingham winner York Glory behind her. She goes well on Polytrack, she is rated 100 on all-weather, and she proved here that she goes well on fast ground on turf, which opens up options for her. Five furlongs is her trip and she will be of interest wherever she runs next. Given that she goes well on Polytrack, she would be of major interest should her trainer take her over to Ascot at some point, as horses with Polytrack form often go well on Ascot’s straight track. We know her trainer is not averse to travelling with her.

21st July 2013