SUMBE PRIX MORNY

Having watched the replay a couple of times, I was expecting the winning time from Señorita Bonita to be the fastest in the Prix Morny that we have seen for some time. She was actually 0.4s slower than Venetian Sun was a year before, but the time was still one of the fastest on record and that is not surprising when the McLloyd sectional times show that Carry The Flag clocked 10.29s for the 2nd furlong. I am not a fan of the team tactics employed by Ballydoyle, in part because they don’t seem to work that often, but mainly because I would rather every horse was simply allowed to run on their merits and let the best horse win, especially in a 2-year-old race. Carry The Flag went very hard and yet the fact that he managed to hold on for 2nd place is remarkable. It took him just 44.28s to cover the opening half a mile and having built up a considerable lead, he very nearly pulled off a remarkable win under Ronan Whelan. I’m not sure what it says about some of the others in behind, who were taken out of their comfort zone from an early stage, but the winner continues to impress.

I was fortunate enough to write a column with the TPD data when she made a winning debut at Nottingham earlier in the year and the Crisford’s charge has gone from strength to strength ever since. Settled towards the rear of the pack by Oisin Murphy, she reached the halfway point relatively comfortably and then as each of her rivals began to struggle to close the gap on the runaway leader, she moved up on the inside with ease. A couple of reminders from Oisin Murphy, who didn’t need to use the persuader until he was inside the final furlong, were enough to get her on terms with Carry the Flag and from there she pulled clear to win by 4 lengths. She really is exceptional and whatever else can be made of the form of this race, I am confident to say that she was the best horse on show by a distance. Inside the final 2 furlongs, she has made up the best part of 2s on the leader without being asked for maximum effort. Carry the Flag was clearly tiring after setting some rather insane early fractions, but the other 5 runners all failed to reel him in. Señorita Bonita did so comfortably and she appears to be maturing with every start. She was no match for Victorious in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, but I would have to argue that she has improved significantly since then and if they met again, I’d probably have to price the Crisford filly as the favourite to come out on top, especially as we haven’t seen Victorious since. All of her form from both Ascot and Newmarket has worked out really well and she even had 3 subsequent winners behind her in her Nottingham debut. With such a large price tag, she was clearly bought to make the headlines, but she is still showing signs of considerable improvement and I’d have to argue at this stage that she is the best 2-year-old filly in Europe after this Prix Morny performance.