Mudaaraah

Mudaaraah was impressive in winning a listed fillies' race over a mile at Sandown last Thursday. Dropped in early on by Richard Hills from her draw widest of all in stall one, she was last of the eight runners turning for home. Still last as they passed the three-furlong pole, she made nice progress on the outside of her field from two furlongs out. Hills didn't have to be that hard on her from there. Once it was apparent that she was moving forward without maximum effort from him, his main concern seemed to be not hitting the front too early. They were flat to the boards inside him as Hills just nudged the daughter of Cape Cross along. One smack of the whip at the furlong pole encouraged her to pick up again, another 150 yards out just as she took it up was enough, and she came through impressively to win by a cosy three parts of a length from Middle Club in second, but she was value for a fair bit more than that.

Two things of which to be a little wary. Firstly, the Hamdan Al Maktoum filly raced down the centre of the track. Usually, that is a disadvantage at Sandown, but a few of the winners raced down that part of the track on the day, so it may have been to her advantage to be there on the say. The other thing is that the favuorite, Gallic Star, was possibly a little unlucky. She got stuck in a pocket on the far side just when she wanted to pick up. Darryll Holland had to sit and suffer as the race developed in front of him and, in fairness to the filly, she did pick up once she got into the clear, but it was too late, and she had to settle for fourth place. That filly is better than the bare result suggests, but if she met the winner in a match next time, I would side with the winner for sure. Furthermore, as an unlucky losing favourite, she is sure to be over-bet next time.

This was just the third run of Mudaarah's life. After winning her maiden at Folkestone impressively, she disappointed when favourite for a six-furlong Listed race at Newmarket at the end of June. However, shwe scoped poorly after that race, and she proved on Thursday that you can easily put a line through that run. Her trainer John Dunlop mentioned the May Hill Stakes as a possible next target for the filly, and she would be of big interest in that.

23rd July 2009

Back