Khitaamy
Our son of Approve headed to North Yorkshire for his fourth career start. He had shown a lot of promise on his first start when third at Nottingham and had then been slightly disappointing in two subsequent starts on the all-weather. We hoped the return to turf would be in his favour and given the lack of depth in the 7f contest, it looked like a good opportunity for Khitaamy to break his Maiden status.
Dane O’Neill bounced our gelding out of the gates and soon had him at the head of affairs. It often pays to be near the front at Catterick Bridge and Tom Eaves certainly thought so as he harried Khitaamy for the lead. O’Neill sensibly let the second favourite take over the running and he got a tow in behind as the leader set honest fractions. Khitaamy started to loom upsides Dandys Denouement and the pair of them slugged it out from over a furlong out. Neither appeared to budge as they fought throughout the final furlong but Khitaamy was able to get on top close home a win a shade cosily by half a length.
Khitaamy showed a very willing attitude and it was fantastic to see him break his duck. The handicapper is unlikely to take a dim view of this performance given that the third had a very lowly rating. At the same time the front pair pulled nicely clear and the right horse finished behind him, so we would be optimistic that he can win again. The 7f here seemed to suit him well and he is likely to stay at this distance when we next see him on a racecourse.
Congratulations to Khitaamy’s owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. Sheikh Hamdan has been a big supporter of La Grange and we hope there are plenty more winners to come in the famous blue and white silks during 2017. This was our sixth winner so far in July and we have started to build good momentum after a productive June. Well done once again to everyone involved with Ed Dunlop Racing, a busy Friday and Saturday lies ahead and hopefully we can add to the tally over the weekend.