THERE were plenty of fast horses at Newbury on Saturday and it was a sprinter in the Hackwood Stakes that caught my eye, writes Page Fuller.

Lake Forest put in a good seasonal reappearance in the Commonwealth Cup and backed that run up with a strong second in this race. Unfortunately, he got a little left behind at Ascot in the first furlong and did the same on Saturday. He wasn’t slow out of the stalls, only taking 2.22 seconds to reach 20mph, but he couldn’t keep up with the early pace and ended up at the rear by the end of the first furlong.

At this point he was already 0.68 seconds, or about four lengths, behind the winner Elite Status and the sectionals are interesting from there.

He was quicker than the winner through every other furlong of the race, but he was unable to make up the ground that he had given away.

He covered the final two furlongs 0.3 seconds quicker than the winner, suggesting that he had been given too much to do at the end. His FSP of 101.33% suggests that he may find a step up in trip useful, where the early gallop won’t be as ferocious. Or keep an eye on him over a stiffer six furlongs, ridden a little closer to the pace.