Sundays card at San Sebastian was the last in a busy month of Racing in Spain. Below you will find the time figures and Ratings for the 5-race card and whilst they are generally lower than some of the other meetings that I have reviewed recently it is important to note that the ground is much softer at San Sebastian than it has been in Madrid. As a result of the conditions, the time figures were slower which has a natural effect on the speed part of the rating.
The feature race was the 5th on the card and those of you with good memories will recognize the 5th placed horse, Speak in Colours. He was a Group class performer during his time in Ireland with Joseph O'Brien and has been plying his trade in Spain for the last 2 seasons, winning 4 times in 14 starts and collecting over €56,000 in prize-money. He isn't the force of old, but he is still running to a rating in the mid-80s and gives a solid look to this form. The winner of this contest, Something, built on a win here in May to produce his best effort for some time to win here. He travelled very strongly into the contest and hit the front with 2-furlongs to run before battling well to hold off the closers in the final 100-yards. The time matched the course standard and given the close proximity of the placed horses, this may well prove to be a piece of form to follow, for all that the majority of this field are relatively exposed at this stage.
If there is a horse to take from this meeting, then it looks to be the winner of the 2-year-old contest, Joker. This was his 2nd win and despite doing an awful lot wrong by pulling for his head and hanging right at times, he showed that he possesses a decent engine to stay on well and assert in the closing stages. He has a lot to learn, but he was conceding a penalty here and whilst he isn't a superstar, he has great attitude and he may well be able to put that to good use again before the season comes to a close. I have put a link to the replay below which has kindly been uploaded by the Hipodromo de San Sebastian. He ran to a rating of 70, which puts him slightly above the average for a 2-year-old in Spain at this stage of his career and if he were to find a similar set of conditions, he may well win again.
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