Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke ran better than the bare form suggests in finishing fifth in the one-mile-six-furlong handicap. Held up early on by Harry Bentley, he was keener than ideal, but he travelled well for a long way. He was travelling best of all at the three-furlong marker, and he moved up easily through his field on the run to the two-furlong pole. He came under pressure then, and he drifted towards the middle of the track, but he joined the front rank, he got to within about two lengths of the winner Cape Coast, before fading through the final furlong up the hill as he tired.

It was still a highly encouraging run from Ralph Beckett’s horse on his first run in over a year. On his previous run, he won a 12-furlong handicap at Chester impressively off a mark of 85. He was racing off a mark of 92 here, and this performance suggests that he is more than capable off this mark. He has gone well fresh in the past, that Chester win was also after a break of over a year, but he shaped here as if he could improve for this run. He is obviously fragile, he is a four-year-old who has run just five times, but, consequently, he has plenty of potential to improve further. He is obviously good on soft ground, but he won a novice stakes at York on good ground as a juvenile.

Newmarket, 10^th July 2020