Max Vega

Max Vega put up a good performance to finish second to Hukum in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes. Sent to the front from flagfall by Harry Bentley, he travelled well into the home straight, and he had all his rivals on the stretch when he kicked inside the three-furlong marker. He was caught and passed by Hukum at the furlong pole, but he still kept on well to finish a good second.

Ralph Beckett’s horse finished two and a half lengths behind Hukum, but Owen Burrows’ horse is a highly talented and progressive individual who could be a St Leger horse now, and Max Vega had the progressive Alignak and last year’s winner, the classy Morando, behind him in third and fourth. It was just his sixth run too, and it was his first since he finished well down the field in the Derby. Winner of the Group 3 Zetland Stakes over 10 furlongs on soft ground on his final run as a juvenile last season, this was a career-best performance from him over the longest trip over which he had ever raced. He is progressive, and he will be of interest again over a mile and six furlong or even two miles, and perhaps on even softer ground than the good to soft conditions that he encountered on Saturday.

Newbury, 15^th August 2020