Circus Couture

He did well to finish second to Here Comes When in the Group 3 Superior Mile. The winner is a very talented performer when he gets soft ground, as he had here, and he had the benefit of the stands rail through the final furlong. Circus Couture travelled well just behind the leaders into the home straight and, moved towards the far side of the winner, he picked up on the run to the 1f marker. Racing out towards the centre of the track, which probably wasn’t an advantage on the day, he kept on all the way to the line to get to within 1l of the winner, with the pair of them finishing over 1l clear of the talented and lightly-raced Regal Reality, who may not have been at his best on the heavy ground.

Winner of three Group 3 races in Italy when he was with Stefano Botti, and beaten a short head in the Group 1 Premio Roma by Dylan Mouth in November 2015 when he was three, Circus Couture put up his best run before this for Jane Chapple-Hyam when he finished third behind Settle For Bay in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in June. He didn’t run badly in the Group 2 Summer Mile back at Ascot after that, on the round course, nor in the Grade 1 Arlington Million on his previous run, but this is a better level for him. He obviously handles this heavy ground well, but he also handled fast ground at Royal Ascot well. He has won over 10f but a testing mile could be optimum for him.

Haydock, 8^th September 2018