Theola

The sedate early pace of the two-mile handicap at Ascot on Saturday wouldn't have suited Theola at all, she needs a stronger pace and ideally further than this two-mile trip, but she stayed on well on the outside the whole way up the straight. She couldn't quicken with Bow To No One, but she had to go wide around the home turn to make her ground, and she stayed on best of all to be closest at the finish. She should come on for this, and she will be better over longer off a faster pace and perhaps up a longer home straight.

This was her seasonal debut and just her ninth ever run and, while it was only a Class 4 handicap that she won at York on her final start last season, she was very good in so doing. That race was run over two and a quarter miles, a distance that is probably a minimum for her. Her previous win was gained over two miles and one furlong at Pontefract, one of the stiffest tracks in the country.

8th May 2010

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