Xtension

You can easily forgive Xtension for not being able to match the freak Canford Cliffs for pace in the Coventry Stakes on Tuesday, but he still ran a race that was full of merit to take second place close home. On his head and just about able to keep up in the early part of the race - he was being ridden along and was fully six lengths off the pace when they passed the three-furlong pole - he stuck to his task well, and nothing finished better. He made up more than two lengths on Rakaan inside the final 100 yards to get up and snatch the runner-up spot, and that horse wasn't being caught by the rest.

There is a chance that this performance from Xtension will go under the radar now with all the hype surrounding Canford Cliffs. On his only prior run, he had run out a really impressive winner at Goodwood. It was only a Class 5 maiden auction race, but he did it well. Clive Cox is not noted for his two-year-olds (his strike rate with two-year-olds in the last five seasons is a meagre 10%, and Xtension is his only juvenile winner this season out of a total of 27 winners), and Xtension can be expected to improve again now for his run in the Coventry. He raced here like he will benefit from a step up in trip, and this is not refuted by his breeding, by Xaar out of a Grand Lodge mare whose half-sister won over a mile. He could be one for the Superlative Stakes next month.

16th June 2009

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