Lexington Abbey Bounces Back

Lexington Abbey bounced right back to form at Nottingham when striding away with the 6f handicap. It felt as though we were seeing him a week too early because after an encouraging reappearance it seemed he was destined for bigger things with the Wokingham at Royal Ascot looking a likely target. Unfortunately an over watered track at Pontefract and then an unexplainable poor show at York changed matters and it was back to the programme book to find a race to bounce back in. Kevin waited, let the horse come back to himself and then sought out the 0-90 6f handicap at Nottingham a track where Lexington Abbey held a 2 from 2 record.

Lexi certainly looked a different horse at Nottingham and he was playing about whilst getting saddled up. Jamie Spencer gets on so well with the 4 year old and he was once again in the saddle for the contest. There was only 7 runners but it looked a trappy contest and Lexi was certainly going to have to be at his best to come out on top. With pace drawn on all sides it was sure to be a quick race and so it proved. As the gates opened the field blasted away from the gates and quickly got the revs high as they burnt through the ear;y stages. Jamie found the key to Lexi last year by finding cover and so he went to these tactics here. With few runners it was hard to find the ideal position and Jamie just had to niggle his mount into the race early on. As they went through the first furlong Lexi picked up the bridle allowing Jamie to settle and position him at the back of the field as they converged into one. The pace was strong and with the easy track the field were flying down the turf. Lexington Abbey was going to have to pass every rival if he wanted to win and must have been a good 10 lengths off the leaders. With the pace looking more like a 5f gallop there was surely no way the leaders could hold out and Lexi travelled smoothly behind, able to use his high cruising speed. By halfway a the leaders were four abreast at the front and tried to kick on again. Jamie was just winding Lexi up for a run and he picked off the horse in front with ease moving swiftly into contention. There was 2 1/2f to run and the leaders were paying for the brisk gallop as they were working very hard to stick with the Sheikh Hamdan horse Greeb. Moving inside the 2f marker and Greeb had kicked on taking the lead for himself, but looking in the background and Lexington Abbey was full of running. Jamie had yet to make his move but had tracked Greeb all the way through stalking jis victim like a hunter stalking their prey. As the pair swiftly moved alongside the leader Jamie pressed the go button and that was that. They quickly scooted a couple of lengths clear and it was game over. The margin did diminish close to the line as Lexington Abbey allowed himself a quick prick of the ears thinking that he had done enough work for the day.

It was great to get Lexi to bounce back to his best and in the end it was a very impressive display, travelling like a dream and then showing a fantastic turn of foot. Despite it being a Thursday afternoon there was plenty of the Middleham Park syndicate there to cheer him home and they gave the loudest cheer of the day as they welcomed home their star into the winners enclosure. Lexington Abbey has shown a good level of form and he now looks ready to take the jump to the next level. The big Saturday handicaps are surely beckoning now and although the Wokingham dream fell flat this year, 12 months down the line could be a different story.