Wet Sail

Wet Sail put up a nice performance to finish third behind Easter Impact and Canny Kool in the listed six-furlong race at Chester on Sunday.  Weak in the market beforehand, Oisin Murphy allowed him jump slowly enough from the stalls from his outside draw, and he dropped in towards the inside, seventh of the eight runners, as they rounded the first turn.  Still second last and on this inside behind a wall of horses as they straightened up for home, he didn’t really start to make ground until deep inside the final furlong.  Seventh with 200 yards to go, he finished really well through horses to get up and snatch third place from Portamento in the dying strides.

It was a really good run from Charlie Fellowes’ gelding.  Canny Kool was allowed set a steady enough pace from early, with Eastern Impact up on his outside, and, when the pair of them kicked off the home turn, it was difficult for anything to come from the back to challenge them.  It is not a coincidence that the two horses who dominated the race from early finished first and second.  It was difficult for any horse to get into the race from the rear.  Intransigent, who won this race last year, and who often finishes well down the outside at Chester, could only get up into fifth place.

Wet Sail was a progressive juvenile last season.  Bought by Qatar Racing after he won his maiden at Salisbury last August, he finished third behind Limato and Mattmu in a valuable listed sales race at Redcar last October in his final run of the season in Britain, and he was thought good enough to take his chance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita three weeks later.  He was disappointing on his first run this season behind Adaay and Jungle Cat and Salt Island and Waady – for all that that was a really hot race – at Newbury in May, but the fact that he was off the track from then until Sunday suggests that all may not have been right with him after that.  This was much more like it, and he could be able to resume his upward trajectory now.  His pedigree suggests that he should be able to get further than this six furlongs, and this performance suggests that he could improve for a step up to seven furlongs at least.  He remains lightly raced, this was just his seventh run ever, and he will be of interest wherever he goes next.

2^nd August 2015