El Hayem

El Hayem did well to finish fifth in the Clipper Logistics Mile at York on Wednesday. Dropped in from early from stall 13, towards the outside, it wasn’t ideal for Sir Michael Stoute’s horse that the early pace was not that strong. It was a race that was run to suit the prominent racers, the first three home, Flaming Spear, Qassem and Firmament, all raced prominently from early, and the fourth horse raced in mid-division. The hold-up horses struggled to get into it.

At the back of the field from early, and still three horses wide around the home turn, El Hayem was still disputing last place as they straightened for home and passed the four-furlong marker. Moved towards the outside, he did make nice progress to the two-furlong marker, and it looked like he was going to be involved in the finish as he made his ground, widest of all. However, he was making his ground into a quickening pace, and that is not easy. It ultimately took its toll and his run flattened out. He did move into fourth place inside the final furlong, but he had done a lot of running to get there, and he was just nutted by Baraweez for fourth spot on the line.

It was still a fine run by the Al Shaqab Racing horse on just his ninth run ever and probably on ground that was softer than ideal. He had disappointed on his penultimate run before this at Newbury in May on the only previous occasion on which he had encountered soft ground but, given a nice break after that, he was impressive in winning a decent handicap at Sandown in July on fast ground off a mark of 92. He raced off a mark of 96 on Thursday, and that is a mark off which there could be a good handicap in him now. He probably wouldn’t want the ground to get too soft, but he coped with easy conditions here well, and he will be of interest wherever he goes next.

24^th August 2017