Wind Fire
Wind Fire was probably unlucky not to win the Group 3 Coral Charge at Sandown last Saturday.
Restrained by Oisin Murphy after jumping well from stall three, he settled into a nice even rhythm on the favoured far rail just behind the pace that Stepper Point and Spirit Quartz set. She moved easily in behind the leading pair at the two-furlong pole, but she needed a gap, either on the rail or between the two leaders, and the gap never materialised. Eventually, Murphy tried to engineer one, pushing up hopefully into a half a gap between the two horses, but the gap closed, and all three horses came together, which didn't help any of them. By that stage anyway Waady was in full flow down the near side under Paul Hanagan. Wind Fire did manage to squeeze through to get out after the leader deep inside the final furlong, but it was far too late at that stage. Even so, she finished well to go down by just a half a length, pulling two lengths clear of Spirit Quartz in third.
It was still a big run by Wind Fire. Waady is a highly progressive colt who was recording his fourth win in four attempts over this course and distance, and there were several genuine Group class sprinters behind. Wind Fire herself also goes well over Sandown's five furlongs. She had won twice over the course and distance before last Saturday, and she had finished fourth in a Group 3 contest, when she was drawn widest of the 10 runners. However, David Brown's filly can also operate away from Sandown, as she proved when she finished a close-up and fairly unlucky third behind Pearl Secret in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock in May.
Five furlongs is her trip, a stiff five off a fast pace is probably her optimum, and she goes well on good and fast ground, so she will always be of interest when she has those conditions. She is entered in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes at The Curragh on Irish Oaks weekend, and she will be of interest if she takes her chance in that. She is also in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August, which is interesting, given that she ran well at York in the Lowther Stakes as a juvenile on her only visit there, when the six-furlong trip probably stretched her a little. She is a highly-talented sprinter, and it may be that she continues to be under-rated by the market.
4th July 2015
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