Suruor

Mentioned here before when he won a Newmarket handicap over a mile in May, Suruor is worthy of another mention after he won a Class 2 handicap at Goodwood on Thursday over seven furlongs. He had been beaten in two races in the interim, but he didn't quite get home when he raced on the far side in the strongly-run mile of the Britannia, and he was just nutted by the highly talented Secret Society back over seven furlongs at Ascot in July, when he might even have won had he had the winner to chase rather than the other way round. He made no mistake last Thursday, however. Settled out the back by Jimmy Fortune and always travelling well, he travelled best of all in behind runners down to the furlong pole.  A gap appeared towards the far side at that point and, although it was probably earlier than ideal, Fortune kicked him into it and he quickened up nicely to go a length and a half up. He idled from there to the line and only got home by three parts of a length from the fast-finishing Shamwari Lodge, but it never looked like the Hannon filly was going to catch him.

The general view afterwards was that Shamwari Lodge was unlucky, that she might have won had she enjoyed a clearer passage, and it is true that she was held up in her run, but Suruor does very little when he hits the front, as we saw in the Britannia and again when Secret Society did him on his previous run, and he would have been even better if he had been held up for longer. Jimmy Fortune is not really a hold-up jockey, he is good, he is effective, but he isn't renowned for ballsey hold-up rides like, say, Spencer and Hughes are. One of those would be an ideal partner for Suruor. It is probable that David Simcock's gelding is a good deal better than the bare form of this race, that he had a fair bit more in hand than that 3lb by which the handicapper has raised him, and he is progressive anyway. Seven furlongs is his optimum distance. Apparently the Challenge Cup at Ascot at the end of September is next on his agenda, and he will be of huge interest in that off his new mark of 96.

30th July 2009

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