Shinkansen

Shinkansen ran better than his finishing position suggests in the juveniles’ six-furlong maiden at The Curragh on Saturday. Smartly away and into his stride, he quickly adopted a good early position in the front rank and towards the near side. About a half a length behind the overall leader I Have A Voice on the near side after they had gone two furlongs, he moved up easily to join that rival in front as they raced inside the two-furlong marker. The ultimate winner Glounthaune matched strides with the pair of them, but it appeared that Shinkansen was travelling better than both those rivals until they raced to the furlong marker. He didn’t find as much for pressure as Glounthaune did, however, and he weakened through the final 150 yards, just holding onto fourth place from his stable companion Geodesic, who finished well on the far side.

It was a good run by Donnacha O’Brien’s colt, who shaped like a horse who would probably do better back down at five furlongs. He did run over five furlongs on his racecourse debut at Cork two weeks earlier, and he ran well, but the race developed on the far side, away from him a little bit, he had to do a lot of running on his own towards the near side and, actually, he did well for one so inexperienced to keep on as well as he did. By Caravaggio, who won the Marble Hill Stakes and the Flying Five over five furlongs and the Coventry Stakes and Phoenix Stakes and Commonwealth Cup over six, he will be of interest wherever he goes next, but it may be that he will be at his most effective over five furlongs, at least for now.
The Curragh, 17^th April 2021