Cityscape

1st-Oct-2010

This is a cracking contest, but I thought that Cityscape would be just about favourite, and he is worth backing this morning at 9/2. The performance that Roger Charlton’s colt put up in winning a good listed race at Haydock four weeks ago was hugely impressive. Always travelling well that day, held up in midfield, he picked up really well at the two-furlong marker to take it up at the furlong pole, and when Secrecy came at him with a dangerous-looking challenge on the outside, he found another gear to pick up again winning fairly easily in the end, with the front two pulling clear.

Awzaan did well that day to get to within four lengths of Cityscape on his first run since the Guineas, and he would have a real chance of reversing placings with Cityscape today on that basis on the bare form of that race, but he probably didn’t go forward as well as you would have hoped in finishing third to Delegator at Newbury on his subsequent start, and the slightly easy ground today will not be in his favour, especially stepped back up to a mile and on easy ground. He still has to prove conclusively that he stays the trip.

More than that, however, Cityscape probably won with a fair bit more in hand than the winning margin suggests that day. He always seemed to have things under control, he travelled well up to the leaders, and the manner in which he galloped all the way to the line to repel the late challenge of Secrecy – who was himself pulling clear of the rest of the field – was impressive. And Secrecy is very good, on his penultimate run before that he had finished third in that Group 3 race at Salisbury, just three parts of a length behind Sea Lord and Poet’s Voice, both now proven Group 1 performers.

Second in the Royal Lodge as a juvenile and in the Greenham Stakes as a three-year-old, Cityscape is still really lightly-raced for a four-year-old, he didn’t run last season after he jarred himself up in the Guineas, after which Charlton said that he wouldn’t run him on fast ground again, and he ran a cracker on his debut this season to finish fourth under a big weight in the Spring Cup. The ground was not as soft yesterday as the official description suggests – the official ground was soft, but the times suggest that it was just on the slow side of good – but it should still be easy enough for Cityscape to let himself down and gallop. If he does, as long as he doesn’t remember a bad experience over this course and distance in the Guineas, he should run a big race.

Premio Loco would be interesting and could be under-rated by the market if the ground is closer to good than soft, Lincoln winner Penitent was impressive at Sandown last time, back with cut in the ground, while the form of Tamaathul’s run in splitting Side Glance and Redford at Chester last time looks really good now after that pair finished second and first respectively in the Challenge Cup at Ascot last Saturday. He has raced just five times, he will like soft ground, I have liked him since he finished second to Dancing David on his racecourse debut last year and he is progressive, but Cityscape just looks like a much classier horse, and Tamaathul is priced up just about right now.

CITYSCAPE WON (ADV 9/2, SP 7/2)

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