Vision D'Etat

Vision D'Etat showed a really impressive turn of foot to land the Prince of Wales's Stakes. Held up in rear by Olivier Peslier off a slow enough gallop, he actually had to be quite forcibly restrained in the very early stages to prevent him from clipping Virtual's heels. Soon back on an even keel, Peslier had to get after him as the pace quickened on the run around the home turn. At that point he was disputing last place with Trincot and Never On Sunday, and was on the rail, needing massive luck in-running for the gaps to appear. Peslier stuck to the inside, went the brave route, but still had three lengths to make up on the leaders at the two furlong pole, which was an arduous enough task into a quickening pace, given how slowly they had gone. But he did pick up impressively, squeezed through the gap that appeared between Twice Over and Tartan Bearer as the Cecil horse ran down to the rail, and quickened up really nicely to get home by a neck.

Eric Libaud's colt is at his best when he is ridden like this, just dropped on the line. He is a horse who only just does enough. When he beat Famous Name in the French Derby last year, he took it up at the furlong pole, thought he had done enough, looked beaten when Dermot Weld's horse came up to him, then found more to repel him. He has won eight races and he has never won by more than two lengths. If you discount his first two wins and concentrate on his wins at listed race class or above, he has never won by more than three parts of a length. He recorded the highest Racing Post Rating of his life on Wednesday, and he probably had more left to give. It is probable that he is a better horse now as a four-year-old than he was last year at three, he showed here that he has the speed to win a Group 1 race over 10 furlongs on fast ground when they don't go a great gallop, yet we know that he has the stamina for a mile and a half. He has to be on your shortlist now for any of the top middle distance races that he contests from now on.

17th June 2009

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