Horses To Follow » Yourartisonfire

Yourartisonfire

Yourartisonfire ran a nice race to finish third in the Spring Mile at Doncaster on Saturday. A little keener than ideal through the first couple of furlongs, Karl Burke’s horse picked up nicely at the two-furlong pole when Philip Makin asked him, and it appeared as though he was winding up to throw down a serious challenge to leader Brae Hill. His effort flattened out a little, however, as the stronger-finishing Stand My Ground came through to challenge Brae Hill and those two went on, but Yourartisonfire stuck to his task well to keep on for third place, three parts of a length in front of Farlow.

The Dutch Art colt is only four, he is not as battle-hardened as the rivals with whom he fought out the finish here, and this was his seasonal debut. He should be significantly better for the experience. Remarkably, there were only three four-year-olds in the Spring Mile this year, and the other two finished 15th and 17th. Yourartisonfire did by far the best of the youngsters.

He has run well on soft ground before, but the balance of his form suggests that he is at his best on better ground. His best ever run was over seven furlongs on fast ground last July, when he won a decent little handicap, despite being sent off the outsider of the four runners. He may get a mile in time, and he has run well in defeat over a mile in the past, but this run also suggests that he will be at his best dropped down a furlong in trip. The faster pace that they should go over seven furlongs should also help him settle better. The handicapper left him on his pre-race mark of 83, that is fair, and there could be a good seven-furlong handicap in him now on better ground.

29th March 2014