Pallasator

Pallasator quickly developed into a talented handicapper last season as a three-year-old, and he ran a really promising race on his first run as a four-year-old when third in the Old Borough Cup at Haydock on Saturday.

The Mark Prescott-trained gelding was held up off a sedate pace (they clocked the slowest comparative time of the day here, and were over half a second slower than the three-year-old handicap run over the same trip at the end of the card), so he did really well to finish as close as he did in third place. The two horses who finished in front of him were ridden much more prominently. Indeed, all the other five horses who, with him, filled the first six places, raced prominently, and he was held up right out the back.

He just had to be nudged along leaving the back straight, but he was entitled to be rusty here on his first run for nearly a year. He made nice progress in the home straight, passing horses and looking a threat, before his exertions probably told and he just couldn’t quite reach the first two. That said, he did stay on all the way to the line and drew a little way ahead of the rest, despite edging in behind the first and second a furlong out.

The Motivator gelding had been due to reappear in the Ebor at York last month, but he had to miss that because of a poor scope a few days before the race. As a consequence, he was conceding race fitness to his rivals here and it was a big run in the circumstances. Also, it was just his fifth ever run, and he could come on a fair bit for the experience.

He is almost certainly better than the bare form of this race, and it is possible that he will prove to be a real talent. His dam won the Lancashire Oaks and was beaten just a short head in the Group 1 Gran Premio di Milano, and it is interesting that he is entered in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day. He could be a Cesarewitch horse, he will be 2lb well-in in that race if he takes his chance in it, and he could be a fair bit better than a handicapper in time.

7th September 2013