Rhythm Of Light

Rhythm Of Light has had a terrific first half of the season, winning twice including the Listed Sandringham Handicap and finished just a nose behind subsequent Jersey Stakes third Western Aristocrat in between those wins, and earning herself a step up to Pattern Class as a consequence. That step up came in the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes on the Friday of Glorious Goodwood where her finishing position, 10th of 17 beaten seven and a half lengths, is not a fair reflection of her capability at this grade. She was really up against it from stall 17 of 17, a nightmare draw on the round course at Goodwood, and it what was a really hot Group 3 run at a sedate enough pace, she had little chance from her position out the back, as evidenced by the fact that the three horses who filled the last three positions for much of the contest, which included Rhythm Of Light, finished 10th, 11th and 14th of 15 finishers (Memory refused to race and Pyrrha lost her action and was pulled up).

This race featured a mix of fillies with Group 1 and Group 2 form, together with several progressive fillies who were stepping up in class, but the common denominator between those who finished prominently was that they had raced handily or not far off the pace, with the exception of Dever Dream, who was quite a way back and did well to avoid the weakening Pyrrha when that one lost her action, then got a lovely run all the way up the rail as Chachamaidee moved out to tackle the leader Law Of The Range (who stuck on for third) to get up for second. Rhythm Of Light was out to her left slightly as the stalls opened which did not help, nor did the fact that she was keen early on and running around a bit at the back, wanting to go faster than her rider wanted her to. Richard Kingscote did the right thing in anchoring her at that point, as if he had let her go forward they would have been five horses wide around the turn. As it was, she couldn’t pick up early enough to make any sort of inroads towards the leaders, but she did run on quite nicely under hands riding inside the final furlong to finish a never nearer 10th. She passed the two fillies who finished in front of her soon after the line and was in the first five or six 100 yards or so after the line so strongly did she finish, as befits one who had seen out the mile on Ascot’s straight course so well last time. She could well be under-rated next time on the back of this. She appears to still be on the upgrade and the balance of her last few runs suggests she is up to winning in this grade.

Tom Dascombe’s filly first gave an indication that she was a fair bit better than her official mark when winning a Class 4 fillies’ handicap at Newbury in May. She made smooth progress from the back that day before being wiped out and nearly knocked off her feet, yet she still had enough left to re-gather herself and go on to win by a length. She was unlucky to bump into Western Aristocrat on an opening mark of 88 (he is now rated 20lb higher) on her next start at Haydock, and even then it looked like she might win as she came to take it up inside the final furlong before being caught on the line, the pair of them quickly pulling nearly three lengths clear of the rest. Then came the smooth Sandringham win which earned her her place in this field.

It would be unwise to take her anywhere near the face value of this form, she could still be a long way better than she was able to show here. While she is certainly not short of pace, she is by Beat Hollow out of a Danehill mare, and she finished off her race so strongly here that she will probably benefit from being stepped back up to a mile. She should be able to pick up a Pattern race before too long, and she should be well worth following.

29th July 2011

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