Highland Knight

2nd-Jul-2011

I am also keeping another old friend on side, Highland Knight. He is not a very fashionable horse, and I think that he is over-priced at 14/1 ... He was unlucky when we had him on side at Epsom to come up against a horse as upwardly mobile as Dance And Dance. Dance And Dance did beat him well in the end, but I think that he would have won the Royal Hunt Cup off a 5lb higher mark if Eddie Ahern and Julienas hadn’t come across him.

On top of that, Highland Knight went on plenty early enough at Epsom. David Probert had no option, given how the race panned out, but it is difficult to lead at the two-furlong pole at Epsom along the rail and last all the way home. The closers up on the outside away from the camber seem to have the advantage. He is just 1lb worse off with Start Right, whom he beat by a neck, and he is more than twice his price. That doesn’t make sense given that, despite appearances and popular perception (Start Right is a fashionable horse), it was Start Right who probably had the run of the race, not Highland Knight.

This race should suit Highland Knight better. He is a prominent racer, and there weren’t too many horses getting into it from the back at Sandown yesterday. It is a track at which, despite its uphill finish, it is difficult to make ground as long as the ground isn’t soft. There is plenty of pace in the race, so hopefully Probert will be able to sit just in behind the front rank, which should be possible from his draw in stall eight. He is up 2lb for his Epsom run, but that is fair, and there is more in him.

HIGHLAND KNIGHT WON (ADV 14/1, SP 10/1)

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