Cape Byron

He ran a big race to finish second in the 7f handicap. He travelled well from early in the far side group, which lagged a little behind the near-side group at half way. He picked up well in the centre at the 1f pole and he finished off his race well to get the better of Sabador on the far side, just going down by a half a length to Ascot specialist Ripp Orf, who finished well on the near side. It was a fine run from Cape Byron, and it built on the promise of his previous run in a 7f handicap at Goodwood from a wide draw. That race is a big draw race, as most handicaps run over 7f or 1m at Goodwood are. The previous 10 winners of the race were drawn, respectively, 2, 6, 5, 7, 7, 8, 5, 3, 8 and 6, and the low numbers dominated again in this year’s renewal, with the first four home emerging from stalls 9, 18, 4 and 5. Cape Byron was the one who raced from stall 18. While he couldn’t match Flaming Spear’s turn of foot that day, he did keep on really well all the way to the line to get past all his other rivals and take second place. He ran a good race in the Golden Mile at Glorious Goodwood on his previous run to finish fourth behind Seniority, again from stall 18. That was an improvement on his previous form this season, and it was his first run since being gelded. His last two runs have been nice steps forward too. He is still relatively lightly raced, Saturday’s run was just his 10th, and he will be of interest in another good 1m or 7f handicap. He obviously goes well at Goodwood, but he also has good form at York and Ascot, and he can handle easy ground. The Balmoral Handicap at Ascot on Champions Day looks like a good target for him now.

Ascot, 8^th September 2018