Quintus Arrius Cruises To Victory
The Sunday series has been a huge success since its inception into the racing calendar. Offering very good prize money, trainers and owners have been very keen to support the series. The second meeting of this year headed back up to Scotland to Hamilton Park. Quintus Arrius had been slowly progressing and put in another career best performance when taking the 6f Race To A Cure For MND 3YO Sprint Handicap.
Having shed his maiden tag on the all-weather, Quintus Arrius returned to turf at Pontefract for his handicap debut. Beginning off a mark of 75 seemed fair and the 3yo ran a great race to finish second having been carried off line by the winner. It was an unfortunate event and probably cost the colt the win. Having been raised 4lb following this performance, Hamilton was immediately pencilled in for the next race.
Attracting 12 runners, the race looked quite an interesting contest. Arguably Quintus Arrius brought the best form to the table but he would not quite make favouritism. Tom Eaves took the ride and would have very little to do through much of the race. Breaking away from the stalls, the field were spread out across the track. Quintus Arrius was drawn in stall 3 which meant he would be forced to race towards the far side. Quickly into stride he tracked the early pace, sitting just behind the early leaders.
Racing downhill the field charged through the first half of the race. There was little to separate all 12 runners as they began to move towards the rising ground. Charging past the 2f marker the race heated up but a glance over to the far side saw Tom motionless. He had given his mount a squeeze and with an immediate reaction, Quintus Arrius quickened up to throw down his challenge. Whilst his rivals came under pressure, Quintus Arrius moved through dangerously and with ease.
They hit the rising ground and bared down on the final furlong. Quintus Arrius moved through to take the lead as he was chased along by a rival moving through quickly from the rear. As the pair moved into the final furlong they went eyeball to eyeball and now Tom asked some serious questions. It was great battle running up the hill and neither was giving an inch. The pair were pulling each other along which put distance to the rest of the field. Neither of the leaders could get on top but with 1/2 to run, Quintus Arrius edged his nose to the front. There was no response back from his rival and now Quintus Arrius began to get on top. There wasn’t far to run but the colt broke the deadlock and inched away from his rival. Crossing the line, Quintus Arrius gained a neck victory in impressive fashion.
The manner in which Quintus Arrius travelled throughout this race shows that he is a colt who could have more to come. He cruised through and had plenty in the tank when required. There is a feeling as he might be even better with slightly better ground with the way he travels and quickens up. The handicapper will put him up once again but there could be plenty of room to manoeuvre. Some of the top 3yo handicaps may be ideal for the colt in the coming runs.