Kenya

It was difficult not to be impressed with the performance that Kenya put up in winning the Irish Cambridgeshire.  Always prominent, Aidan O’Brien’s horse wasn’t obviously going best of all on the run to the 2f marker, but he picked up nicely on the run to the 1f pole.  He moved into a clear lead and he cleared away through the final 150 yards, coming three and a half lengths clear of his field and clocking a good time.

Winner of two of his three races last season as a juvenile, the second of those recorded in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes over 7f at Leopardstown, the Galileo colt was a well-beaten third of four behind his stable companion Gustav Klimt in the 2000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown on his debut this season.  Last of seven in the Dee Stakes on his next run and last of 16 in the Prix du Jockey Club on his next, ridden forward from early on both occasions, Saturday’s run was a step forward on anything that he had achieved before.  He seemed to appreciate the step back down to 1m, and it was just the seventh run of his life, so there is every chance that he will progress for the run. He holds an entry in the Group 2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang Stakes at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend, and he will be of interest if he lines up in that.  Also, while he was raised 8lb for this win, it was merited. A mark of 106 may not be his ceiling, and he would be of interest if he took up his engagement in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket at the end of September off that mark.

The Curragh, 1^st September 2018