RACE SUMMARY
 

Cool Creek may well have won on debut but for an inexperienced start and was a strong favourite here at 4/5 with the trainer having had his first 2yo winner of the season on the previous day. He was again slow at the start but probably only lost 2 lengths and this was not a great problem as the pace was not strong. He travelled well in behind the leaders and looked best suited to the '2f sprint' at the end of the race showing the most natural sprinter actions of the first three. He showed some change-of-pace to go past the leaders and was not hard pressed to hold on. He can rate notably higher than this and probably 88+ at least and is presumably the best of his trainer's earliest runners.

Lord Jack Flash had provided a rare highlight in 2005 with his debut win in a muddling race at Yarmouth for his trainer. He was 13/2 and ridden by a 5lb apprentice which helped offset his 6lb penalty for his win. He was allowed a relatively easy lead and set an average pace and made an effort after 2f out. He kept on solidly but was relatively easily overtaken for 2 lengths+ by Cool Creek although he held the longer striding Salute Him. Would not expect notable improvement from this performance.

Salute Him had won a slow, non 5f 'speed', race at Folkestone on debut. At the sales he did not look a 5f type and it was a slight surprise to see him run and win this early in the season over 5f. He was steady around 7/4 second favourite. From an early stage in this race he showed a 6f+ 'reacher' action rather than a faster 5f gallop. He travelled ok with the average pace but could not increase his pace by speeding up his action when the race quickened after 2f out. He was able to lengthen slightly further but did not have the basic pace to get by Lord Jack Flash and Cool Creek took 2 lengths+ out of him in a relatively short distance. However, he was still moving forward and showing some slow gain on the faster pair in the last uphill section.

At the weights he comes out as the best performance but it would be very hard to see him ever beating Cool Creek in a fast 5f. He looked like a horse that can develop further over 6f and probably 7f as the season progresses.

Bijli was the only newcomer in the race and received 9lb from the previous winners. He was steady as the 25/1 outsider. He showed acceptable readiness and tracked the leader for more than 3 furlongs but was outpaced as the race quickened and dropped back quite quickly. Ran below expectations and was possibly slightly eased.