Juvenile Watch: Matauri Bay will have his day

The Solario Stakes will have been a frustrating watch if, like me, you had backed Matauri Bay.  

He travelled beautifully through the race but lacked racing room at a critical time, due to getting stuck in pocket on the rail, whereas the winner, Field Of Gold, enjoyed a dream passage through the race and was able to quicken in smooth fashion. 

Once extricated from the pocket, Matauri Bay quickened up impressively and pulled back the deficit to under a length at the line. He was surely an unlucky loser. 

On pedigree this son of Lope De Vega should stay further and will undoubtedly enjoy some more cut in the ground, I’d be surprised if connections don’t aim him at the Royal Lodge. 

It was a shame to see after the race that jockey Hector Crouch was subject to the usual unnecessary keyboard abuse. It constantly bemuses me that viewers and punters are not aware of the nuanced split decisions that jockeys must make.  

If Royal Playright had drifted off the rail - as so often happens with juveniles at Sandown - Crouch would have been lauded for his patience.  

Not every winning ride is a good one and not every losing ride is a poor one. And remember, just like punters, jockeys require a healthy dose of luck. 

Was slowly away from the stalls on her debut over 6f at Newbury. A daughter of Too Darn Hot, she raced exuberantly, and jockey Pat Dobbs was keen to teach her to settle and race properly. 

She was not able to immediately quicken when asked but finished powerfully under hands and heels. This was a beautiful education, and she is fully lodged in my Racing TV tracker for when she steps up to 7f. 

Did tremendously well to finish third on her debut at Windsor given she showed so much immaturity. 

She jumped away to a good start and held a nice position early on. However, as the field converged on the bend, she found herself in among horses and appeared to resent this, squirming around under jockey Finley Marsh and backing out of her position. 

This meant she had to then challenge wide down the outside, but despite appearing to not fully understand her job she finished to good effect into third, though she did hang away to her left. This experience is certain to bring her forward and she looks well capable of landing a similar fillies’ maiden this season. 

Ides Of March made short work of landing the Group Three Heider Family Stables Round Tower Stakes on Saturday at The Curragh. 

After a moderate start to his career, where he was beaten in his first two starts, he is now progressing rapidly. He is a tall, powerful horse who gallops with a long easy stride. It is most likely that it was relative physical weakness that saw him finish tamely on his first two starts.  

Not only has his level of performance improved in recent starts but also his professionalism. At The Curragh on his previous start (the form of which received a boost on Tuesday when Monumental scored at Gowran Park) he won comfortably but drifted quite markedly towards the far side running rail, yet on Saturday he ran gun-barrel straight all the way to the line. 

Automatically after watching such a facile victory, you cannot help but query the level of the opposition. 

However, this looked a solid enough field for a Group Three; runner-up Usdi Atohi had stayed on strongly to land a Listed contest on her third at Tipperary and was not disgraced on her penultimate start when fifth in the Molecomb at Goodwood.  

She had no excuses in this and appears to have run to her best, as has third placed Rudi’s Apple. 

He was outclassed in the Phoenix Stakes on his previous start, when beaten nearly eight lengths by Babouche, but he has solid form, winning a handicap easily off a mark of 90 and finishing runner-up to future Group Two winner Black Forza. 

It’s been a while since Coolmore have had a top-notch sprinter and I will be interested to see whether Aidan O’Brien can mould this big, raw horse into one. 

On pedigree it’s not so obvious. His sire, Wootton Bassett, is a stamina influence while his dam Nickname showed her best form at a mile, though she did have the speed to win over 6f in the US.  

Aidan O’Brien nominated the Juddmonte Middle Park has a potential next target, although he has the current market favourite, Whistlejacket ,and a plethora of other colts entered in that Group One contest.