SCENIC BLAST DAZZLES IN A FLAWLESS DISPLAY

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, June 17, 2009

In a quite compelling performance the Dan Morton trained Scenic Blast became the pride of Australia when he dazzled and demoralised his opposition in a flawless display in the Group 1 King’s Stand at Royal Ascot.

The extreme outside draw proved to be no barrier for the Western Australian star. The speed of Rievaulx World and Equiano, who, like Scenic Blast, were both drawn in outside half of the field, gave Scenic Blast a natural lead into the race. He was cruising on their heels until Steven Arnold angled him marginally to their outside and asked his mount to pick up the pace.

With the bay still in no more than second or third gear, Scenic Blast quickly rounded up the front-runners with the minimum of fuss. He didn’t just reel in the leaders with ease, he went right past them. With Arnold sitting with a handful of horse, the riders of the opposition became more vigorous, more desperate. In one crisp, effortless move, Scenic Blast had taken the race right away from them.

The Jeremy Noseda trained Fleeting Spirit, who had finished third in the 2008 version of the King’s Stand, rallied late on the inside to get to within 0,75 lengths of the winner at the line.

Fleeting Spirit jumped from the opposite end of the starting stalls to Scenic Shot. Many had thought the inside line would be an advantage, but Scenic Blast’s superior ability had nullified that hope of his rivals. Fleeting Spirit was game enough in defeat. She was taking ground off Scenic Blast late, but at no stage was the finishing order in any doubt.

Scenic Blast has now won two legs of the Global Sprint Challenge, adding this British leg to his success in the Lightning Stakes at Flemington earlier this year.

There seems to be little likelihood that Morton will back up his charge in the Golden Jubilee on Saturday. Scenic Blast’s confirmed target is the July Cup next month, a race for which he has already been posted as a 3-1 favourite.

Scenic Blast became the fourth Australian based horse to win the King’s Stand in the last seven years. Choisir broke the mould with his pioneering effort in 2003. Takeover Target and Miss Andretti struck gold in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

All of these runners won the Lightning Stakes at Flemington before progressing to their international challenge showing that Group 1 sprint success back home is clearly a solid grounding for the leap to international stardom.

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