'To Dare, Is To Do' and this win was impressive!
Sat 20 Mar 2021
OUR 11th WINNER OF 2021: IF YOU DARE, trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Ben Curtis: The feature 'Betway Novice Stakes', at Southwell, over 6f.
Firstly, let's deal with the 'seconditis' that #TeamMPR have endured in March: There have been 5, the most recent from Greek Kodiac this week and that was by the narrowest of margins; a nose! With 60 % of our runners in March finishing in the winners' enclosure, it could have been a lot worse, but we are in this sport to WIN!
Well, all eyes were on If You Dare yesterday, having his second start after a promising debut 2nd at Lingfield 13 days ago. He was being lauded by the Sky Sports Racing team as 'looking a picture' in the parade ring and the son of Equiano certainly caught the eye with his size and scope.
He was chalked up as favourite and Ben Curtis was back in the saddle. Breaking well, he was at the head of the field travelling smoothly and all Ben needed to do was to shake the reins coming into the home straight and he went clear, pulling 6.5 lengths away from the 2nd horse.
His time was recorded the fastest of the meeting and Timeform went on to say: "Switched to fibresand, confirmed debut promise to get off the mark, clued up from start to finish this time and dominating; led, shaken up early in straight, drew clear over 1f out, impressive; will go on improving and ought to have no trouble winning more races." and gave him a rating of p92.
Watch the race replay here: https://www.attheraces.com/racecard/Southwell/19-March-2021/1845
In his post race interview, Ben said: "As well as he looked, he went and won that impressively too. He has showed plenty of speed and has a more mature attitude after his debut, where he was a little green. It was nice to see him do that and it opens up more doors for him."
Syndicate manager Mike says: "Very well done to his owners on their win. Their patience was rewarded last night with a comprehensive victory. He really picked up well in the final furlong under a hands and heels ride from Ben and he hit the line strongly. The time was good for the grade with a strong final 3-furlong sectional time. I spoke to Charlie directly after the race and he was really pleased with him. Ben said that he thought he had taken a big step forward and was very professional throughout the race. The form of his Lingfield run took a boost earlier in the day when Zwelela won nicely on Handicap debut for Richard Hannon. So we can mull over plans for him, he’s a nice prospect for this year."
All eyes are now on next weekend at Doncaster for the start of the turf season and we can't wait! We posted on Twitter and Facebook this morning and there have been some super horses picked out that our owners and followers are looking forward to seeing! Which horse is yours to follow?