William Of Orange

William Of Orange ran better than the bare form of the performance suggests in finishing third in the Goodwood Stakes, the two-mile-five-furlong handicap at Goodwood on Wednesday.

It was a messy start, as if often is in this race, with no stalls and a tape start. The starter didn't let them go first time and, when they had a second go at it, a few of them lost significant ground. William Or Orange was one of those.

Once he got away, after losing about six lengths on the leaders, Sir Mark Prescott's horse raced keenly through the early stages of the race, behind a sedate pace that William Twiston-Davies was allowed set on Sands Of Fortune. He travelled best of all to the three-furlong pole however, and he loomed up, looking a threat to the leader on the run to the two-furlong marker. His run flattened out from there, however, over the extreme trip as his early exertions probably took their toll. Even so, he kept on well enough to take third place.

The first four were nicely clear, and the other three horses who finished in the first four all raced in the first four places from flagfall. William Of Orange was the only horse who was able to get into the race from the rear.

The Duke Of Marmalade gelding had been progressive over a mile and six furlongs before this, and he got two miles well at York on his previous run. He came from a long way back that day and he finished well to take second place in front of Le Maitre Chat, three parts of a length behind the Gordon Elliott horse Eshtiaal. He was raised 4lb for that, to a mark of 96, but he proved on Wednesday that that is a mark off which he can operate. The handicapper should really leave him untouched now after Wednesday's run.

He is in the Ebor, and that would be an interesting project. That race has closed now, so even if the handicapper does give him a few pounds for Wednesday's run, he will still get to race off his old mark of 96. A fast-run one-mile-six-furlongs could be his optimum, and that run over two miles proved that he could handle York well. He remains highly progressive. He has raced 10 times, and he has recorded a progressively higher RPR with each run.

29^th July 2015

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