Bauhaus

Bauhaus put up a nice performance to finish second in a two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase at Wetherby on Friday. Settled in just behind leaders Knight Legend and Bible Lord on the inside, his jumping in the early stages left a little to be desired. He was quite low at a number of his fences, and he wanted to go to his right at nearly all of them, which is not an advantage at left-handed Wetherby. Even so, he did travel well, and his jumping did warm up going down the back straight as the pace increased. He and the eventual winner Bible Lord were the only two horses still on the bridle leaving the back straight. Indeed, he seemed to be travelling better than the Andy Turnell horse on the approach to the first in the home straight, as they moved up on either side of Knight Legend. He got in a little tight to the fourth last, however, and Bible Lord jumped it quickly, and he was playing catch up after that. It wasn't ideal that he was out in the centre of the track while Bible Lord was on the far side, close to the inside rail. Bauhaus seemed to be pricking his ears and having a little look around him instead of concentrating on going forward. He got in tight to the second last as well, and was out again to his right, forfeiting ground and momentum. Three lengths down going to the last, he jumped that fence well, landed running, and managed to cut the deficit to three parts of a length by the time they reached the line.

This was a good run from Bauhaus, but it would have been a frustrating one as well, as you had the impression that he was the best horse in the race on the day, but that it just didn't happen for him. Even so, there is no disgrace in going down by three parts of a length to Bible Lord, always a highly-regarded individual, well-fancied for the Paddy Power Gold Cup last season and probably at his best on his seasonal debut, which this was. This was just Bauhaus's second run since he fell in a handicap chase at Galway in August 2008. His first run was at Gowran Park four weeks previously, when he shaped well in finishing fourth behind O'Muircheartaigh. It was actually just his fifth start in total since he joined Gordon Elliott from Richard Philipps in the summer of 2008. He won his first two starts for Elliott, a handicap chase at Perth and a handicap hurdle at Cartmel, both admittedly off low marks, but it is probable that the mark of 119 off which he raced on Friday, under-estimates his ability a fair bit. A winner over a mile and a half on the flat for Charles O'Brien, he stays three miles well over fences, and he will be interesting if he is returned to a right-handed track now before the ground gets too soft.

30th October 2009

© The Irish Field, 7th November 2009

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