Yacowlef

Yacowlef did well to keep on as well as he did to finish second in the three-year-olds’ seven-furlong handicap at Goodwood last Saturday. Dropped in early on from stall seven and moved towards the inside, he was stone last of the 13 runners as they rounded the home turn. Still last as they raced towards the two-furlong marker, he got buffeted around a little as he made ground among horses on the run to the furlong pole, and Tom Marquand had to stop riding for a stride or two in order to wait for a gap. Back on an even keel and into the clear a furlong out, he finished off his race well. He stayed on best of all down the outside to just get the better of Tafreej for the runner-up spot. He was a length and a half behind the winner Urban Sprawl in the end, but Urban Sprawl made all from stall three, he was hard to catch, and he was sent off a warm favourite for a handicap at Epsom on Friday racing off a 6lb higher mark.

It was a nice performance by the Coles’ horse, it was a good step forward from his previous run, when he won a seven-furlong handicap on soft ground at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting off a mark of 86, 6lb lower than Saturday’s mark. The handicapper raised him by just 1lb for this run to a mark of 93, but this was a career-best performance, and he proved that he could operate on fast ground at this level. He will be of interest wherever he goes next and, with a record of 312 at Goodwood, he will be of particular interest when he goes back there.
Goodwood, 27^th May 2023