Panama Red

Panama Red only finished sixth in the 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown on Saturday, behind the impressive winner Homeless Songs, but she ran a nice race in defeat. Smartly enough away from her outside draw, rider Gary Carroll allowed her drift back in the field a little early on, so that she was just about last of the 11 runners as they left the back straight and three wide. Still last when they straightened up for home, and four wide, she shipped a small bump from Beautiful Sunshine on her inside, which wasn’t ideal, but she still stayed on well through the final furlong and a half. She didn’t have the pace to get to the front five, who had a nice break on the rest of the field, but she kept on well to do best of the rest, finishing a clear sixth, just over five lengths behind the winner.

She did well in a race that wasn’t run to suit. The second of Ger Lyons’ fillies in the race, a much bigger price than her stable companion Sacred Bridge, she was drawn wider than ideal and the pace was probably not as strong as she would have liked. Winner of the listed juvenile fillies race over this course and distance on Irish Champions’ Weekend, her pedigree is all 10 and 12 furlongs, so she will be interesting now if and when she steps up to a mile or even 10 furlongs in time. This was an encouraging run and she should be able to build on this.
Leopardstown, 2^nd April 2022