Platinum Star

Platinum Star ran a big race to finish second to Royal Lytham in the July Stakes. Slowly away and pushed up a little early on, the field split into two small groups early on, three on the far side and four on the near side, and he was last of the four on the near side. He travelled well in behind, however, and, when Harry Bentley asked him to pick up, he went ahead and chased Visinari through on the near side. He finished off his race really strongly on the near side. He got past Visinari in the dash for the line, but he just couldn’t get the better of Royal Lytham, who stayed on strongly on the far side.

It was still a really good performance by the Godolphin colt, given that he missed the break and that he did all his running towards the near side, on a part of the track that was slightly slower than the far side, according to the GoingStick. All the talk beforehand was about Visinari, which was understandable, given the performance that he had put up and the time that he had clocked on his racecourse debut over the July Stakes course and distance. A lot of the focus afterwards was obviously on the winner Royal Lytham, with some also on Visinari. So there is a chance that the performance that Platinum Star put up in finishing second will go at least a little under the radar.

Winner of his maiden at Leicester over six furlongs, the Lope De Vega colt ran a big race to finish second in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot over five, but it looks like this six-furlong trip is his trip, at least for now. There is plenty of speed in his pedigree, but he raced here as if he could get further than six furlongs. This was just his fourth run, and he should continue to progress. He is in Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, and he is in the Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh next month, and he is in the Gimcrack Stakes at York, and he could go well at a decent price if he took his chance in any of those.

Newmarket, 11^th July 2019