Matt Brocklebank argues the case for Jasour dropping back to five furlongs as he underlines four eyecatching performances in defeat this weekend.
ROHAAN – 3rd in 6f handicap at Ascot, Saturday
The money came pouring in for Rohaan through Saturday morning but supporters must have half known their fate after a furlong or so as he was sat at the back of the seven-runner field with Bosh and Be Frank taking them along tight to the rail at what looked only a very moderate gallop.
Fresh sat handier in third/fourth through the early stages and in the end it was quite nice to see the seven-year-old get back to winning ways after 16 defeats on the spin, but David Evans' horse was the one to take from the race.
Tom Queally could only fully unleash the experienced six-year-old with just under a furlong to travel and he responded well when asked, but it was all too late and the front two had basically got away from him.
Now rated 96, he's operating from a mark 6lb lower than when successful at Ascot last October, and he could easily head back there in the coming weeks or go for another crack at the Ayr Gold Cup, where he was beaten less than two lengths when seventh off a perch of 104 12 months ago.
BROOKLYN NINE NINE – 2nd in 5f handicap at Ascot, Saturday
If Rohaan emerged from Saturday’s Ascot meeting as a big Ayr Gold Cup hope, you'd imagine the ‘Silver’ version of the same race could be in trainer Richard Fahey’s mind after seeing Brooklyn Nine Nine finish so well from off the pace in the concluding contest over the minimum trip.
Having his first run since York's Dante meeting in May, the four-year-old was pretty well backed (joint-favourite in the end) but looked rusty as the stalls opened and then wasn’t done any favours when trying to find an early position.
Ultimately, he was quite badly outpaced when the tempo picked up, but nothing came home as strongly and he’s clearly returned on good terms with himself.
Stepping back up to six furlongs next time will hold no fears as he’s already won over the trip as a three-year-old and, although that novice success first time out last spring remains the one win of his career so far, Brooklyn Nine Nine is evidently a talented sort who handles ease underfoot so remains one to note heading into the autumn, despite an inevitable small rise in the weights for this very eyecatching effort.
JASOUR – 10th in Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, Saturday
You could come away from Saturday’s big race with a reasonably optimistic outlook regarding a few of them – Annaf suffered a similar fate as 12 months ago and was hampered again, while Swingalong had what turned out to be a pretty wretched draw (as was the case last year) in stall 15.
Meanwhile, connections of the first, second and third will no doubt all be looking forward to locking horns again at Ascot, but the one I’d take from the Betfair Sprint Cup is Jasour as I’m becoming more and more convinced that a drop back to five furlongs might be the making of him.
There was a hint of that about this horse when not quite seeing out the stiff six of the Commonwealth Cup and his run in the July Cup - when showing a lot more early speed and ultimately losing three places in the final 100 yards or so - backed up the theory.
Saturday didn’t go to plan at all really as, like Swingalong, it transpired he was was badly drawn (13) and then just as jockey Jim Crowley looked to make his move after passing the two-furlong marker, he got a bit snarled up in the traffic caused by a weakening Inisherin (Annaf also involved).
Jasour was given one crack of the stick but was then looked after very tenderly when it became clear his chance had all but evaporated, and I’d love to see Clive Cox get him back out again quickly in Sunday’s Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh.
The weather for the week looks half-decent in Ireland and this horse might really appreciate a strongly-run five furlongs on a stiff track if it’s not too testing underfoot. Otherwise, his main chance of landing a Group 1 could be the Abbaye, where the ground might cause issues, as I can’t imagine they'll be in a big rush to go to Ascot with Jasour deep into next month.
LEVER UP - 4th in 1m novice stakes at York, Sunday
This won't be a short-term fix by any means but the advice is to pop Lever Up into My Stable, sit tight and look to get him on side when stepped up in trip for his handicap debut.
Gelded before his debut when down the field in the red-hot Convivial maiden, the son of Ulysses is from the same family as top-class winners Integral and Echelon and while he'll never scale those sort of heights, he has been set some stiff tasks on the Knavesmire so far.
Sunday's run showed how much he had learnt from his first outing at the Ebor meeting recently, travelling a lot more kindly on this occasion and coming home quite well to finish a good deal closer to Shah (runner-up again) than he had done last month.
The winner Windlord looks bound for Group races this autumn but it's hoped Lever Up is given a more realistic assignment to end his campaign before being put away for 2025 with a view to tackling middle-distances.
Like I say, this horse isn't one to be getting overly excited about next time, but more a case of good things to those who wait.
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