Kaki De La Pree

Kaki De La Pree put up a nice performance to win the Pertemps Qualifier at Carlisle on Sunday. He travelled and jumped well for Felix de Giles through the early part of the race, moved up nicely around the outside around the home turn, and took it up from Our Joey on the run to the final flight. At that point, it looked like Pineau De Re, who had travelled well in his slipstream, was travelling better, and, indeed, Dr Richard Newland’s horse touched down over the last with a marginal advantage, at which point he traded at 1.09 in-running. However, Kaki De La Pree stays really well, and there was a lot to like about the manner in which he found extra when de Giles asked him, surging to the front again half way up the run-in and going on to win by two lengths.

This was just Kaki De La Pree’s fourth run over hurdles, and it was probably the best performance of his career by some way. Winner of his only point-to-point, he finished fifth behind Puffin Billy in a maiden hurdle at Newbury on his racecourse debut in November 2012, and was off the track after that until October this year, when he ran a nice race to finish a close second to the highly-talented King’s Palace – an impressive winner at Cheltenham on Saturday and now favourite for the Albert Bartlett Hurdle – the pair of them clear. He duly got off the mark when staying on well to land a three-mile maiden hurdle at Chepstow on soft ground, but Sunday’s performance was a significant step forward again.

There is no telling how good he could be. He could be a Pertemps Final horse, the handicapper will probably raise him by enough to get him into the race, but trainer Tom Symonds did not appear to be favouring a tilt at the Pertemps after Sunday’s race. He is highly progressive, he is at his best on soft ground, and he will be of interest in any three-mile handicap hurdle that he contests now, especially on soft or heavy ground.

15th December 2014