Qewy

Qewy put up a really impressive performance to win the two-mile hurdle that opened proceedings at Newbury on Saturday.

Settled nicely in mid-division through the early stages of the race, he travelled well through the middle section of the race, he jumped well and he travelled well into the home straight. He had to be shaken up among horses in order to hold his position at the third last flight, but he was quickly back on the bridle. He joined the leaders at the second last, then picked up impressively to come away from the highly-regarded Cardinal Walter on the run to the last, and he cleared right away on the run-in to post a seriously impressive performance visually.

This looked like a hot race beforehand, and the right horses chased the winner home, with Cardinal Walter, Royal Vacation and Bouvreuil filling the next three places, with fifth place filled by Cloonacool, who had beaten Saturday's Betfair Hurdle winner Violet Dancer on his previous run. Also, this is a race that has been won in the past by useful horses like Montbazon and Chatterbox, and last year by Calipto, and it was won in 2011 by Al Ferof. Qewy won a listed race over a mile on the flat for John Oxx and achieved a peak rating of 107, so he is a classy recruit to hurdles. He shaped nicely on his debut over hurdles as well in finishing third behind the progressive Aso on soft ground at Haydock in January.

He showed the benefit of that experience here, he obviously improved for it, and he is an exciting novice now. He was a soft ground horse on the flat, and he probably wouldn't want it too fast over hurdles either, but the ground was not too soft at Newbury on Saturday, and it may not be that much faster at some of the spring festivals. It looks like two miles is his trip over hurdles for now, and he is of interest now for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

7th February 2015

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