Highland Knight

Highland Knight travelled powerfully in front for a long way in the Silver Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on Friday. He moved across to the nearside rail just over two furlongs out – it is unsure whether it was intentional or was due to hanging – but he was disadvantaged by so doing as that was probably the slowest part of the track. Bearing that in mind, he did very well to finish so close, beaten only three quarters of a length into fifth.

Highland Knight has been largely consistent this season in some good three-year-old handicaps, but it does appear that he is best with some cut in the ground as his best two handicap performances have come on soft and he won his maiden easily on Polytrack, which is a forgiving surface on which soft ground performers do well. This was his first try at a distance in excess of a mile and it seems as though he did stay it as, despite making much of the running, coming over to the stands side and then looking like he was going to finish a little way off the leaders, he battled on really well in the last half-furlong to finish on the heels of the leaders.

He is clearly quite a useful animal with cut in the ground and it should pay to keep him on side for the remainder of the season on easy ground, and at the start of next season at least.

1st October 2010

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