Dark Moon Rises To The Top
Horses can lose their way and sometimes it is obvious why but then sometimes you just can’t put your finger on it. For a horse who was 4th in the Dante and rated as high as 102, Dark Moon Rising has dropped to a level that would have thought to be never in his range. He bounced back to form though when taking the 1m5f Sky Bet Club Handicap at Hamilton, part of the Sky Bet Sunday Series.
Having had an up and down season last year, Dark Moon Rising’s highlight had been a nice win at York. Unfortunately he had mixed that in with inconsistency. The same could be said of this season so far, with 3 runs that were well below par. This had seen his mark drop to 80 and also meant that Kevin reached for blinkers, attempting to find a spark.
The Sunday series offers great prize money which in turn means competitive fields. With 12 runners lining up for the contest, the strength of field saw Dark Moon Rising as the outsider. Shane Gray has enjoyed success on board the 5yo and was back in the saddle. With the start past the winning post, the field would race uphill down the straight before taking the loop to come back the opposite way. Drawn in 12 meant that Dark Moon Rising would be on the inside turning into the loop but then the outer when they swung around it. Settling into second position, the gelding chased the lead.
Around the loop the leader injected some pace and had the field well strung out. They race uphill and right handed as the leader then took a breather and slowed it all down once again. Shane was always stalking the pace, looking to have first crack at the leader when the time came.
Entering the top of the home straight the ground falls away from the runners, as they race downhill. The leader now began to free wheel and opened up, increasing the pace again. With well over 5f to run the rest didn’t panic and allowed the leader to go on.
The race really began to hot up moving past the 3f pole. With the leader retreating quickly, the field had spread out to lay down their respective challenges. With Shane getting to work, Dark Moon Rising took over in front but that lead looked in danger almost immediately. The well fancied favourite looked to be cruising just behind and would quickly come through to challenge. As the fav joined up front, the pair opened up a clear advantage.
Having looked as though he would get swallowed up, Dark Moon Rising was getting stronger moving inside the 2f pole. It was nip and tuck but Dark Moon Rising still heal sway and was looking stronger and stronger. There were a couple more rivals coming to join the fight but Dark Moon Rising was finding for pressure. The final furlong would be a real slog but every challenge was getting repelled. Up the hill Dark Moon Rising continued to find more and pulled away from the fav, scoring by a clear 1 1/4 lengths.
It was great to see Dark Moon Rising back to form and he really thrived for the step up in trip and fitting of the blinkers. On his best form eh 5yo is far better than his current mark, so it would be no surprise to see him go on from this performance. Confidence is a big thing with horses and if this win does the trick then more days could go his way. There is a nice bonus on offer for 3 wins in the Sunday series so Dark Moon Rising will be aimed towards that. Thirsk is the next port of call, depending on what the handicapper does but if he is able to the 1m6f event looks tailor made for Dark Moon Rising.