Grandeur

Grandeur impressed with the manner in which he got back to winning ways in a nine-furlong conditions race at Newbury last Friday, and he is destined for bigger things now.

The Jeremy Noseda-trained gelding was held up at the back of the eight-strong field by William Buick, and that left him at a disadvantage as the pace was only a steady one set by Hayley Turner on Boom Or Bust. He was three horses wide down the side of the course, Buick anxious not to get too far back, but he still had several lengths to find on the unharried leader at the top of the home straight. He showed a nice turn of foot down the outside from the two-furlong marker to take it up inside the final furlong, always shaping as if he was going to get to the leader, who had kept something up his sleeve and made him work for it having got to the front. Despite edging in to his left and tightening up Prince Siegfried late on, Grandeur won a shade comfortably in the end and was value for more than the winning margin given the way the race panned out.

The Verglas gelding remains really progressive. He won a handicap off a mark of 88 at Goodwood in May, and he is now rated 108, but he has the potential to be even better than that and go quite high indeed. Noseda says he needs fast ground to be at his best, but his form suggests that he is fairly adaptable regarding the ground. It also appears that he is versatile in terms of pace and trip, as he coped well with the drop back to nine furlongs and the steady pace here, having previously looked impressive over 10 furlongs off a strong pace at Glorious Goodwood. His turn of foot is a huge asset, and will stand to him as he steps up in grade, but the suspicion is that he will prove best coming off a strong pace. He is entitled to take his chance in Group company after this, and he has the option of going abroad somewhere at the end of the season if connections are keen to keep him to decent ground.

21st September 2012

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