Pallasator

Pallasator put up a really impressive performance to win a good Class 2 12-furlong handicap at Ascot on Sunday. He was weak in the market beforehand in the face of sustained support for Retirement Plan, and he sweated up a little before he went into the stalls. As well as that, he came under pressure on the way around the home turn as Double Bluff kicked for home. He picked up impressively from the two-furlong pole, however. He came through horses, joined Double Bluff inside the furlong marker, and cleared away to win impressively.

This was a good performance. Double Bluff is a progressive Mark Johnston horse who was afforded a fairly easy lead, and he pulled clear of the rest of the field, yet Pallasator was able to beat him fairly comprehensively in a good time, 0.23secs/furlong slower than standard.

Sir Mark Prescott’s horse is exciting now. He is five, but he is still really lightly-raced. He raced just three times as a three-year-old, and he won all three times. He didn’t re-appear last season until September – he missed the Ebor because of a dirty scope – when he ran well to finish third in the Old Borough Cup, for which he was sent off as favourite. Then he rounded off the season with a fine performance to finish fifth in the Cesarewitch off a mark of 100.

On his debut this term, he ran really well in the Old Newton Cup at Haydock. He raced prominently in a race in which it was probably an advantage to be held up, yet he kept on well enough to go down by just a neck to De Rigueur, with good horses like Magic Hurricane, Dashing Star, Havana Cooler and Forgotten Hero – who won a decent handicap at Ascot last Friday – behind him.

The 12 furlongs of Sunday’s race should have been a minimum for him, but he showed nice acceleration to catch and pass the winner, and come clear. He would be an obvious one if he ran in the Ebor now under a penalty, but he could be even better than an Ebor horse. He holds and entry in the Irish St Leger Trial on the day after the Ebor, and he is also in the Irish Leger. He would be an interesting outsider in that race if he took his chance in it.

27th July 2014