Escobar

Escobar ran well in circumstances that wouldn’t have been ideal in the Group 3 Supreme Stakes. He was smartly away and, with no obvious pace on, he found himself in front through the first couple of furlongs, and racing more keenly than ideal. Settled in behind Toro Strike then after they had gone a furlong, he travelled well up the home straight and, while he came under pressure on the run to the two-furlong marker, he kept on well on the far side to get up for third place, just over a length behind the winner Happy Power.

The small field and the sedate early pace would not have been ideal for David O’Meara’s horse. He did finish third in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood last month, but his best performances have been in big fields when there has been a strong pace, like when he won the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot last year and when he finished second in the same race the year before. He has also finished third in a Golden Mile at Goodwood and third in a Challenge Cup at Ascot. He will be of interest again now in a race in which it looks like there will be a good pace on. He goes on fast ground and on easy ground, and it seems that he is equally adept over seven furlongs and a mile.

Goodwood, 30^th August 2020