A decent debut, but Shinko flops

Golden Age debuted correctly at Longchamp yesterday, finishing 7th in the claimer. Considering she was the only horse who had never run before, I thought she handled it very well. The race was marred by a fatal accident. It hasn’t rained in weeks here, and I’ve seen more broken legs in the past month here than I’ve seen in five years. Longchamp has been watering, but the 1,000-meter course has been somewhat neglected since there are no major races on it for the moment. They’ve got the main track in good shape because of the Guineas meeting and the pending arrival of Goldikova, but the straight course is separate from the main track. Luckily, our filly came back fine.

Hi Shinko, on the other hand, was disappointing. He was drawn wide, so he got stuck bowling along in fourth or fifth place three wide, with no cover. He ran on a bit but just didn’t have more acceleration and finished back in the pack. He’s run three times at Longchamp now, and all the efforts have been disappointing. I’d love to try elsewhere, but I’m stuck for races. It’s the downhill part of the course that does him in. He’s a heavy horse with massive hindquarters, putting him sort of naturally on his forehand when he gallops. All that momentum going downhill burns him out for the stretch. He hasn’t really run well since Cagnes. I think he found the fibersand easy, and just hasn’t fired on the turf since. He’s a very smart horse with a lot of miles on the clock, so he’s not going to overextend himself if he thinks he’s in over his head. I need to find something much easier for him, and I’m not sure if there is anything soon. If not, we’ll save him for the fibersand.

Tomorrow should be interesting. We have a Dutch Art filly debuting in Maisons-Laffitte. She’s the half-sister to Sole Power, winner of the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York. On Sunday, Comment Dit and Panisette go to Wissembourg for their debut.

2 Replies to “A decent debut, but Shinko flops”

  1. With Sole Power’s win in the Temple Stakes today, your filly’s pedigree page looks pretty good. Let’s hope she has inherited up some of the same talent and perhaps you’ll get a shot at a pattern race with her. It’s always nice to dream when they are still waiting to show what they can do.

    Bryan

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