Arctic Blaze

Arctic Blaze did well to keep on as well as she did to take third place in the 12-furlong apprentices’ handicap at Dundalk last Friday night.  John McConnell’s mare had made just about all the running when she won at Tipperary on her previous run, and Siobhan Rutledge set out to adopt similar tactics on Friday.  Smartly away from her outside draw, she moved across on the run up the home straight first time, and got to the front ahead of fellow front-runner Effernock Fizz.  She was a little keen in front, she was probably doing just a little more than her rider wanted her to do, but she still travelled well into the home straight, with her rivals all stretched out behind her.  She looked a likely winner too when she kicked into a three-length lead at the two-furlong marker, but her early exertions just caught up with her late on, and she was run down inside the final furlong by Cozone and the well-backed winner Joupe.

This was a race in which the hold-up horses came to the fore. The winner and the runner-up were both held up, and Arctic Blaze was the only horse who finished in the first five who was better than midfield early on.  John McConnell’s mare has raced 28 times, she is not obviously unexposed, but she is in the form of her life now, her last two runs have been up there with the best of her career, and she proved here that she was well able for this mark of 66.  She holds an entry in a 12-furlong handicap at Bellewstown on Wednesday, and she will be of interest if she lines up in that, at a track that should suit her forward-going style of racing.

Dundalk, 16th September 2022