Tashkhan

Tashkhan put up a game performance to win the 14-furlong handicap at Haydock on Saturday. Niggled along early on in order to retain his position, he got stronger as the race developed. Taken to the near side by Harry Russell in the home straight, he ground it out down the stands rail. His task was made easier than it might have been when Dhushan was withdrawn at the start but, even so, he battled on gamely to get home by a length and a half from Summer’s Knight.

Winner of a handicap at Navan on heavy ground on his final run for Emmet Mullins in March off a mark of 57, the Born To Sea gelding has continued his progression since he joined Brian Ellison. He does go well on this soft ground, and he is two for two at Haydock now, but he ran better than the bare form of his run suggests in the King George V Handicap on fast ground at Royal Ascot. The handicapper raised him by 6lb for Saturday’s win to a mark of 92, but it was just his eighth run, it was his first over a mile and six furlongs, and he has lots of scope for continued progression now over staying trips. The Melrose Handicap at York is the obvious target for him now, and he was only just beaten at York’s Dante meeting on his only run there to date.
Haydock, 3^rd July 2021