Sir Keating 2 for 2

There are different ways of winning impressively, it can be a wide margin win, it could be a smooth and confident passage without coming off the bridle or it could be sheer genius from the jockey. The way Sir Keating did it was all wrong, doing everything he could to scupper his chances but still striding away to win the 3yr old 7f handicap at Wolverhampton.

With only one run to his name, a win in a maiden, inexperience was always going to be a worry and it showed throughout the contest. The debut win had led the handicapper giving Sir Keating a fair opening mark of 73 and Kevin took advantage of this in the 0-75 handicap. Jamie Spencer has only been seen a few times through the winter but with the new turf season approaching he was booked to partner Kevin’s runners and capitalised with a winner.

As the stalls burst open there was the usual dash for the lead but Sir Keating was a little slower away than the rest. Jamie was happy to settle toward the back of the field but as the runners converged Sir Keating had different ideas and began to run keen, wanting to get on with the job at hand. Jamie had to use all his strength and experience to settle the free going 3 year old but it looked in vain. Fortunately with no room to manoeuvre in the tightly bunched field, Sir Keating had no choice but to settle. Now he was getting into a rhythm and giving Jamie’s arms a bit of a rest. This didn’t last for long though, as by halfway the leaders began to quicken and tried to stretch the field. With the injection of pace daylight appeared for Sir Keating and he made his mind up to try and reel the leaders in. Jamie had different ideas and so the fight started again, with Spencer desperately keeping his mount from galloping through the field. The runners were soon heading into the home bend and the free going Keating was running all over the horses in front of him. As the field rounded the bend they began to spread out, all ready to lay down their challenge. With the field fanning out, Jamie was forced wide and as he moved Sir Keating out the 3yr old began to motor. Within a matter of strides the powerful son of Sir Percy flew down the outside of the field to lay down his challenge. There was no stopping Sir Keating now he was he full flow and soon passed the leader and kept on going. As the pair crossed the line they had a 1 1/2 length advantage but it could have been a lot further.

Sir Keating was very impressive considering he did everything wrong and exerted a lot of energy throughout the early stages. He is a horse that Kevin has always liked and definitely looks to be going the right way. This was only his second run so there is a lot of improvement still left and he should get further in time. Once Sir Keating learns how to race he will be a force to reckon with.