Mountain Angel

Mountain Angel was probably a little unlucky not to win the Dubai Duty Free Handicap over 10f.    A little keen through the early stages of the race, he travelled well into the home straight for David Egan, and he travelled like the most likely winner of the race inside the 3f marker. He picked up nicely too on the soft ground when his rider asked him to, and it looked like he had set up a race-winning lead as they raced to the 1f marker, at which point he traded at 1.06 in-running. But his early exertions took their toll inside the final furlong, and he was just run down by Buzz, going down by a nose, with Aquarium also finishing well to take third place.

Roger Varian’s horse still remains progressive. He had put up the best performance of his career on his previous run, in a 10f handicap at Sandown, when he had to switch inside the 2f marker and finished well to take second place, just a half a length behind Dubai Horizon.  He was raised by 4lb for that run but, because Saturday’s race was an early-closing race, he got to race off his old mark of 92. He is up to his mark of 96 now, but that is a mark that he should be able to out-perform. He was racing over 10f for the first time at Sandown, and for the second time at Newbury on Saturday, and those two runs have probably been the best of his career to date. He handles soft ground well, and he will be of interest in another 10f handicap now this season. He is high in the betting for the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot on Champions’ Day, which is run over a mile, but he is not certain to get into that race, and he should do better anyway over 10f when he learns to settle better over the trip.

Newbury, 22^nd September 2018