Royal And Regal

Royal And Regal ran a cracker to finish second in the Lonsdale Stakes at York on Wednesday. A little free through the early stages, he travelled best of all up the home straight, he was the only horse still on the bridle at the three-furlong pole, and he came there to win his race but was left sitting on the bridle in front for too long and got run out of it by Askar Tau. He will be better if ridden with more restraint, or possibly dropped down to a mile and six, or both. He is also better on softer ground than this. He could be overlooked now on his next run after this, because it did look like he was thinking about it a bit, but I am happy to put his disappointing finishing effort down to the fact that he arrived there swinging far too early. Also, his previous run when he was last of eight behind Ask in the Lonsdale Cup was really disappointing on the face of it, and people will probably take that into account as well when assessing his chance the next time he runs, but he broke a blood vessel that day, so you can easily forgive that. He does take a bit of a hold in his races, however, so the slightly faster pace that a drop in trip to a mile and six should be in his favour. He is another for the Irish St Leger shortlist if he takes his chance in it, especially if the ground comes up just on the easy side of good.

19th August 2009

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