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Imperious One – Thursday; California – Thursday; Battersea – Friday

Imperious One – Thursday

We’ve seen Imperious One run four times now and on each occasion he’s run to a rating in the 80s, but there remains every reason to think that improvement in coming, potentially very soon. His debut win looks good form (beat a handful of subsequent winners, including Flying Childers runner-up Ornate), as do a couple of placed efforts afterwards. Ostensibly a mid-field finish in the valuable sales race at Doncaster last week marks a stumble, but it was barely even that and, besides, there’s reason to mark him up above the result.

It turned out that a high draw was needed in Imperious One’s race last week, so his fate was essentially sealed from stall 2. Nonetheless, he showed up well for a long way, just unable to sustain his effort on the far rail. He beat the vast majority on his side, some of them approaching useful, so to consider that he’ll now go back to nurseries with a mark in the low-mid 80s marks him out as one to watch out for next time.

California – Thursday

There was plenty of buzz about California before the fillies’ handicap she ran in last Thursday, the evidence in her SP of 5/2 on what was just her second start. She’d won from an unpromising position on debut and looked to have been let in lightly off 81. That idea seemed to be spot on, as she ran out a comfortable winner. California will no doubt be popular if she turns up in a similar race next time, but we’d be of the view that she’s worth trying at a higher level, whether that means high-end handicaps or event minor black-type events. She’s bred to be smart and still has something to learn in terms of her professionalism, while even allowing for those factors it’s hard to overstate the ease with which she won what was a reasonably strong handicap last week. As our report at the time said, she’s a filly to follow.

Battersea – Friday

It shouldn’t really have taken Battersea so long to win a good handicap. After he won a couple of times at Ascot in 2014 (beat the likes of Agent Murphy, Astronereus and Second Step in September) he looked well on the way, but a flop in the inaugural TV Stakes ended last season and the start to this one was delayed until the Old Newton Cup. He shaped well in that race and has had absolutely no luck on either start since.

Last week, he ran in the Mallard Stakes over an extended 14 furlongs. There were some stamina doubts after he’d not seen things out at Goodwood the time before, but the trip was no problem this time- more the interference he suffered three furlongs out. By the time he recovered, winner Curbyourenthusiasm had flown, but Battersea stayed on in the manner of one who’s now ready to take the big pot he’s long promised. Chances are running out in 2015, especially as he’s never run on ground Timeform have described as softer than good since his two-year-old days. It could be that attempting to settle a score in the TV Stakes offers his best chance of redemption near to hand.