Wigmore Hall

Wigmore Hall was put up as a horse to follow after he won well on his seasonal debut at Newmarket earlier in the season, and he is worth another mention here after his performance in the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot on Thursday. Michael Bell’s horse was held up at the back, off a pace that you might have expected to be a bit faster in a race like this, but he travelled well and he looked to have every chance early in the straight, but his path was blocked twice two furlongs out and Jamie Spencer had to bring him over to the rail so he could weave his way through. He finished best of all from here, but he had given up a lot of ground and he just couldn’t get to Afsare and Quadrille, who duelled up front inside the final furlong, going down by just a short head and a neck in the end.

This was a cracking run from Wigmore Hall. He needs a fast pace to be seen at his best, and they probably didn’t go fast enough for him here. The front two, Afsare and Quadrille, are potentially high class performers, and they raced in the front five throughout while Wigmore Hall had to make up a lot of ground. Actually, he was the only one to get into the race from the back. Even at that, he may have won had he got a clearer passage, as he was closing hard on the leaders all the way to the line.

The son of High Chaparral had disappointed when a well-supported favourite on his last two starts, but both races involved small fields and were run at a steady pace. The return to a large field and a better pace helped him here and that can be measured by how much closer he got to Afsare compared to the last time he met Luca Cumani’s horse in a five-runner field at Doncaster.

Ten furlongs on fast ground run at a solid pace are his optimum conditions and he is likely to get that when racing in bigger fields. He is in the John Smith’s Cup at York on 10th July, and he would have a big chance in that in lining up, even off a 7lb higher mark. There is a good chance that he would get the solid pace in that race off which he thrives.

17th June 2010

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