Ferdoos

Ferdoos was unlucky not to win a competitive fillies’ listed race at Ascot on Friday. Held up well back in the field through the early stages, second-last six furlongs out, she got a little outpaced just before the straight, but she made good ground to get back into the race just before the turn. She was still second-last and five lengths down turning for home, and she had to come four horse-widths wide, which wasn't ideal. By contrast, the winner Polly’s Mark was fourth, one off the rail and just a length and a half off the leader turning for home, and she got first run. Ferdoos had five lengths to make up passing the two-furlong pole, and it looked like she was going to make it up inside the final furlong before she drifted fairly significantly to her left. Even at that, she only went down by the minimum margin. It actually looked like she got up on the freeze-frame, she was favourite on Betfair in the betting on the photo, but it was Polly's Mark who just shaded it.

This was just Ferdoos’s third ever run, and it was a cracking effort. Polly's Mark is a high class filly when she has easy ground on which to race, which she had on Friday, and Ferdoos should have beaten her, with the pair of them clear of their rivals. She surely would have won had she not wandered off a straight line under pressure, and she can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of this effort because of this and the fact that she had so much ground to make up from the top of the home straight.

The daughter of Dansili is a half sister to a Group 3 placed and dual listed winner. A 200,000-guinea yearling, she had won her previous two races in really good style prior to this. It may be that she wasn't suited by Ascot's short home straight, that she just takes a little while to get going and that she will be better suited by a longer home straight. There could be a lot more to come from her.

24th September 2010

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