Pinatubo powers to superb success in the Vintage Stakes

Watch how the Charlie Appleby-trained colt retained his unbeaten record in brilliant fashion at Goodwood.

Pinatubo maintained his unbeaten record with a scintillating display in the Qatar Vintage Stakes at Goodwood.

Charlie Appleby’s charge has progressed from winning a minor event at Wolverhampton to landing the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom and the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, with his most recent triumph seeing him rocket to ante-post favouritism for next year’s 2000 Guineas.

This Group Two test appeared far from straightforward on paper, with Aidan O’Brien’s Chesham runner-up Lope Y Fernandez, Richard Hannon’s Superlative winner Mystery Power and Mark Johnston’s grey Visinari among six rivals – but he put them to the sword in the style of a colt destined for the top.

Visinari set out to make all the running under Frankie Dettori, but 6-4 favourite Pinatubo ranged alongside halfway up the home straight.

Once popped the question by James Doyle, the Shamardal colt swiftly engaged overdrive, leaving his rivals trailing in his wake as he powered to the line to score in hugely impressive style by five lengths.

Clive Cox’s once-raced maiden winner Positive emerged best of the rest in second, with Lope Y Fernandez another five lengths away in third.

After a post-race debrief from Doyle, Appleby said: "You can see from watching him walk around that he's a laid-back character. He's like an old horse.

"I said to Giuseppe, who rides him every day, 'Will he be alright on this ground?' and he said 'No problem'. You really can't get excited watching him on the gallops in the mornings, but it's what he does in the afternoons on the racecourse that is so special.

"As James said, "I just wheeled him out there, and when I did he came sharply back on the bridle and just wanted to go forward, so I let him". We've seen acceleration on his three most recent starts - when you think of what he did at Epsom, when a horse got loose on the front end and was always going to come back, but he showed great acceleration that day and again at Royal Ascot.

"Going forward I'll speak to His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed, about plans, and we thought we might have been a bit bold coming here, but the National Stakes [at the Curragh, September 15] is probably a likely target, and from what we've seen today that should be okay.

"He's a horse who takes his racing so well, so I wouldn't want to put a bar to say that after the National we'd pull up, or that we might run him again in the Dewhurst Stakes. We'll take one step at a time, but after retiring Blue Point I've been looking for another good one, and may have found him.

"On the dam's side there's plenty of stamina - she's a Dalakhani mare - and one thing I said to James today was 'Keep it simple, let's not be clever and think we've got gears, and just let him roll along'. Box-seat him was the plan, and if they drop away let him go on, because I'm sure this horse will get a mile. He's got a good head, he relaxes and gets into a lovely rhythm."

Pinatubo is a good-looking horse and well put together, but he's not the biggest.

Appleby said: "I'd rather have a good little'un than a big bad'un. Seriously, there will be some class horses out there who haven't been seen on the racecourse yet - backward, scopier types - but he has good shoulders on him and a big back end. I see no reason why he shouldn't be a three-year-old."

"We did not go all that quick and he surprised me with how well he got into a rhythm and settled.

"Pinatubo is just a wonderful horse with a great nature. He is very quick. When you ask him to go and stretch, he really drops down and accelerates - he really showed that today.

"We were just interested to see today how Pinatubo coped with a small bit of ease in the ground and he did it very nicely. He really let down well, Charlie has brought him along nicely. Hopefully he can go on to bigger and better things and I'm sure he will."

Discussing the prospect of stepping up to a mile, Doyle continued: "He is vey fast, but he galloped all the way to the line today. Trip-wise, I'm sure he would see out a mile no problem. These top horses need a turn of foot and even if they are going up to a mile, they still need to be able to accelerate and he has that turn of pace that a good horse should possess.

"Pinatubo is not overly tall, but he has a bit of scope and range about him. I think he is a top-level horse. He started life off at Wolverhampton, but he even got us excited that day.

"He never really shows that much at home, but when he gets to the track, he brings his A game. He is a horse to be excited about and all of the top races towards the end of the season will be on his radar I imagine.

"You dream to ride horses like this and he is pretty special all right."