3 minute read

Racing and Sports provides a horse to watch out of Saturday metropolitan racing on October 23.

Randwick - Race 1: Shalatin

One to keep an eye on from Saturday's Randwick meeting is the Joseph Pride-trained colt Shalatin.

On debut in the Kirkham Plate (1000m), this son of Shalaa was friendless in the market on jumping ($26) and was one of the slowest away from his wide barrier (12).

Given a cold ride by jockey Jay Ford, the three-year-old never looked overly comfortable in his stride, racing greenly throughout much of the running.

With all but one runner ahead of him, the colt looked as though he was struggling when entering the straight. The story soon changed passing the 300m, when the three-year-old finally set his mind to the challenge and got stuck into his work.

Taking good ground off his rivals the colt dashed home impressively in behind them, rattling off the race's fastest closing 600m (33.23) and 200m (11.31).

Crossing the line in restricted room, Shalatin ultimately finished a game sixth.

Shalatin's eye-catching finish suggests that the debutant will take great benefit from his run and with further race experience will be a huge winning chance in proceeding starts. Worth following.