Mutasaabeq

Mutasaabeq did well to get as close as he did to Lights On in the Group 2 Bet365 Mile at Sandown last Friday. Held up early on, last of the six runners, he travelled well early in the home straight, but Jim Crowley had to wait for the gaps to develop. Still last as they raced inside the final furlong, he picked up when he got a gap between Sunray Major and Alcohol Free, and he finished off his race really strongly, but he failed by just a neck to catch Lights On, who got a nice split close to the rail earlier than Mutasaabeq did.

It was a race in which they didn’t go a great pace, and in which it was difficult to make ground from the rear, as evidenced by Mutasaabeq’s finishing speed of 108.12%. And, even with that, if he had got a gap just a little earlier than he did, for all that Lights On went to the line strongly, he probably would have won. Charlie Hills’ horse is a talented performer, he was sent off at no bigger than 6/1 for last year’s 2000 Guineas on the back of a really impressive performance on his three-year-old debut last season. It didn’t happen for him in the Guineas, and he won just once in three subsequent attempts – he was well beaten in the Jersey Stakes and in the Celebration Mile – but he started off this season nicely with an impressive performance to win a conditions stakes over seven furlongs on soft ground at Thirsk, and this was a nice step forward from that. He proved here that he stays a mile well and, while we know that he handles soft and heavy ground, he went well on this good ground. He doesn’t hold any lofty entries, but he shapes like a Group race performer all right over a mile or seven furlongs, and he will be of interest wherever he goes next.
Sandown, 22^nd April 2022