Prizefighting

Prizefighting put up a really nice performance on his racecourse debut to land a decent Class 4 seven-furlong maiden at Kempton on Monday. A $500,000 yearling from the John Gosden yard, he was held up towards the rear by Jimmy Fortune in the early stages of the race as Frankie Dettori set a fair pace on the Godolphin once-raced Oasis Dream colt Mutafajer. It suited the hold up horses that Mutafajer was taken on for the lead early in the home straight by Silk Street, and the pair of them settled into what looked like a duel from fully two furlongs out. At that stage, Prizefighting met some traffic in trying to manoeuvre off the rail to get into the clear. Once he did, he still had fully five lengths to make up. Fortune didn't seem to be that worried, he just pushed his horse out hands-and-heels, intent probably on getting an education into him rather than necessarily bursting him to try to win the race, but once in the clear he began to pick up impressively. The front two really weren't stopping, they remained well clear of the rest of the field, but Prizefighting came clear of the bunch and swooped late to collar the pair of them inside the final 50 yards to win, eased down, by three parts of a length.

This was a really impressive performance. The front two had already had the benefit of a run, both are highly regarded, the pair of them dominated the market beforehand almost to the exclusion of everything else, and the first three were clear of the field. Furthermore, Prizefighting was green here. He held his head high when asked to go and chase the front pair, and only really started galloping properly inside the final 100 yards. He has a classy American pedigree, and he could be a really useful recruit.

26th October 2009

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