Andy Holding has high praise for a juvenile that looks primed to take Newmarket by storm next week.
July Stakes - 11th July
There’s been some pretty smart juveniles seen out so far this season – many of whom we saw at Royal Ascot – but one who did miss the big gig at the Berkshire venue and arguably has been the most impressive of the entire bunch is VISINARI (best price 9-4).
Not hugely fancied when making his debut over the C&D a month ago (sent off 10-1), Mark Johnston’s colt belied his price in the market in every way, firstly by jumping smartly and getting the early lead, and then secondly, storming clear to win by an imperious three and a half lengths from the strongly-fancied and more experienced, Ottoman Court, from the powerful Godolphin operation. Not only was he impressive on the eye, the speed figure added an extra dimension on to the performance in the fact that he managed to run a faster overall time than the 95-rated rated older horse sprinter Flavius Titus over the same trip. Looking at those that ran in behind him that day, the third, Clareyblue (beaten 13 lengths), was a narrow runner-up at York next time out, fourth, Will To Win (beaten 15 lengths) scored at Lingfield two weeks later and the eighth home, Maysong (beaten 22 lengths) improved dramatically to finish second to a well-backed Godolphin juvenile at Nottingham on his next start, so it’s pretty clear the form is as watertight as the numbers suggested they might be. After such a dazzling display for a juvenile on debut, the temptation must have been enormous for connections to go to Royal Ascot and prove his worth in the Coventry Stakes, but hailing from stable with a pragmatic and long-term approach with a horse of such scope and potential, it was probably the right thing to do and allow him some time to recover from such a big effort first time off the shelf. No doubt owner Rob Ferguson must have been inundated with big-money offer to lure him away to pastures new since that spectacular victory but up until now, it’s good to see the horse still remains in his colours and at his Middleham base and that will hopefully be the case for some time to come. Apparently not a flash worker at home, the son of Dark Angel just might by one of those horses that comes alive on the track and that’s not a bad trait to have if he’s going to take on the top division going forward. A big, boat of a two-year-old that clearly covers a good deal of ground when he’s in top stride, one would imagine booked rider Frankie Dettori will be asked to make plenty use of his mount on his return visit to the July Course, and providing he’s in anywhere near the same form as his was on his debut, then it will take a special performance by one of his rivals to lower his colours. Of those, Guildsman technically has the best form in the book, finishing second in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, but as both of his efforts have taken place on a soft surface, genuine quick ground (which is likely) could just find him out. Having ridden Visinari to victory, Ryan Moore will sadly have to switch camp and stay loyal to whichever Aidan O’Brien decides to run out of Royal Lytham or Pistoletto and of what we’ve seen of that pair so far, both would have to improve significantly to beat a horse like Visinari. Platinum Star ran a fine race in the Windsor Castle at Ascot but the speed figure of that race last month suggests that listed contest wasn’t the strongest race ever run at the Royal fixture. Although entered, whether stable mate Praxeology will be allowed to take his chance is open to question, particularly as he would have plenty of better options at Glorious Goodwood later in the month.
All in all, we are dealing with a two-year-old of enormous promise who has already recorded the sort of numbers that suggests he could be a Group 1 horse in the making and the fact that he goes back to the scene of his impressive C&D performance has to give him some sort of advantage over his rivals. Although he clearly is a very fast juvenile who can maintain a relentless gallop over six furlongs, he also shapes like he will stay further and from that point of view, his odds for next year’s 2000 Guineas, currently top price 40-1, would look massive if he were to put up the kind of performance that is anticipated.
