Golden Steps
Golden Steps put up a really good performance to win the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket last Saturday. Never too far off the pace on the far side, he picked up well two furlongs out when Frankie Dettori asked him to, he struck the front just inside the furlong pole, and he saw his race out really well to beat Heaven's Guest and Mutawathea and Growl, all of whom were well supported. The race has a really solid look to it. He only got home by three parts of a length in the end, but he left the impression that he had a fair bit more in hand than that. Also, he clocked a good time, the fastest of the four seven-furlong races run on the day by a fair way, almost a second faster than the second fastest, and just 0.10secs/furlong slower than Racing Post par.
This was just Golden Steps' second run over seven furlongs, stepped up from six. His first attempt at the trip - after 20 runs over six furlongs and one over five - was on his previous run at Chester at the end of May, when he didn't have the run of the race, yet ran on strongly to finish a close-up third behind Sound Advice. Raised just 1lb for that, he ran off a mark of 99 on Saturday, 4lb lower than his peak, and a 5lb hike for this win is not harsh. It leaves him on a mark of 104, which is just 1lb higher than his peak.
Marco Botti's horse is in the form of his life now, and there is every reason to expect that he can progress again now at this trip. He is in the Stewards' Cup at Glorious Goodwood, and that may be his target, at a track at which he won the consolation race for the Stewards' Cup last year, but he will be of even more interest over seven furlongs again.
9th July 2016
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