My Stable Eyecatchers: Horses to follow from Grant Copson
Check out our latest update with eyecatchers from Epsom, Beverley and Leicester over the past week.
Grant Copson of TFF Publications has selected his eyecatchers from the last week and you can add them to your My Stable by clicking on the horse’s name below.
Shamshon – 2nd 2.10 Epsom, Wednesday
Newmarket trainer Stuart Williams looks like he’s got a well handicapped horse on his hands in Shamshon. The son of Invincible Spirit has now shaped well on his last two starts after a number of lesser efforts and his run at Epsom was a big step in the right direction. Sporting a first-time tongue tie and visor combination, the gelding was held up in the rear before he was asked by Edward Greatrex to make a move forward. Shamshon responded well to pressure in the final furlong and was just unable to get to the winner, Bahamian Sunrise, by a head. A winner less than a year ago at Newmarket (5f, good) off a mark of 87 (his highest winning mark is 92 when successful over 5f at Ascot on soft terrain), it is predicted that a return to a stiff 5f will allow him to take advantage of his generous handicap mark.
Signora Cabello – 4th 2.00 Beverley, Thursday
The first of a pair of juveniles to catch the eye and this John Quinn-trained filly showed her inexperience when she was slowly away from the stalls under Jason Hart. However, the daughter of Camacho – a half-sister to six Flat winners – travelled well throughout the contest, before staying on best of all inside the closing stages. Beaten under two lengths at the line, Signora Cabello looks certain to put her debut experience to good use and get her head in front next time out.
Barend Boy – 2nd 2.15 Leicester, Saturday
I was lucky enough to be at my local track, Leicester, on Saturday and I think the 5f novice stakes will turn out to be a decent contest. The winner Marie's Diamond was visually impressive, both in the preliminaries and on the track, where it's possible that his stamina-laden pedigree helped him make a winning debut on what was pretty testing ground. With that in mind, the eyecatcher was very much the runner-up Barend Boy, trained by Hugo Palmer, who himself was looking for a hat-trick of wins in this race after Hyperfocus (2016) and Never Back Down (2017) had landed back-to-back victories for the Newmarket handler. Sent off as the 9/4 favourite on his debut, Barend Boy's start wasn’t ideal as he was hampered and was soon pushed along by James Doyle at the rear of the field. Though, the manner in which he knuckled down at the business end of the race was taking and he stayed on best of all finish a 1 1/4 length second, with the more experienced Awake In Asia 3 1/2 lengths back in third. This was a pleasing start to his career and it's not hard to envisage him going one better.
Lahore – 6th 2.45 Leicester, Saturday
This Elusive Quality colt was making his first start for the Clive Cox on Saturday after switching from Roger Varian and given that he holds Group One entries (Lockinge and Queen Anne), his sixth placed finish behind the progressive Emmaus was a touch disappointing. However, I couldn't help but be taken with the manner in which he travelled through the race, and after looking like he just got tired inside the final furlong, he's worth another chance on his next start. In addition, he also raced in the centre of the track, which would have inconvenienced him given that the best of the ground was on the stand side rail. Finally, there is also an argument that Lahore could be more effective in a strongly run 6f, where off a mark of 99 there will be plenty of options in handicaps as well as pattern races.
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