PRESVIS LOOKS A SERIOUS PLAYER FOR SHEEMA CLASSIC

Luca Cumani looks to have found another big international performer in PRESVIS (39) who won a ten furlong handicap most impressively at Nad Al Sheba.

The thing that was most impressive about Presvis from a numerical standpoint was the time he clocked for the final three furlongs. He ran this in just 34.17 seconds which compares with the 35.58 seconds that Gladiatorus took in the fastest race on the card, a hot seven and a half furlong event. When I adjust my rating to take account of the sectional times it points towards a borderline Group 2 effort by Presvis.

That's what the numbers say. The visual impression that Presvis created suggests he can run even faster. He simply flowed past the leaders as they sprinted to the line and won easily.

You will rarely see a horse with a more efficient action than Presvis. The maximum percentage of his effort is converted to forward motion by his daisy cutting stride. He seems to glide over the ground. This is great for his future prospects because the vast majority of the big international races he'll surely be contesting are run on lightning fast ground which suits his sort of stride perfectly.

Due to his stride pattern I very much doubt that Presvis will ever be able to produce his best on soft ground. How good his best may be is tough to say right now. But my gut feel from watching this run is that he's a Group 1 performer. And the amazing thing is Cumani is convinced he'll improve for the step up to a mile and a half.

As I see it Presvis is a serious player for the Dubai Sheema Classic.

HAPPY SPIRIT WORTH NOTING

HAPPY SPIRIT (34) looked a good bet at Nad Al Sheba last week. But the slow early pace was all against her. They went slow for the first couple of furlongs, then sprinted flat out for half a mile before tiring slightly in the last furlong. It was only in that final furlong that this smart South African filly began to make any inroads. She passed the post moving really strongly and will surely improve on this effort.

In fact Happy Spirit has done nothing but improve. If a couple of photo finishes had gone the other way she'd have won five of her most seven starts before her Nad Al Sheba loss. She only lost a Group 1 in a photo on her final South African start.

Happy Spirit's big claim to fame is that she won the South African Oaks over a mile and a half. But that race was a slow run affair, as was that ten furlong Group 1 she got beat a neck in last time out. So I'm not convinced that she won't prove effective at shorter trips like the one she tried last week. In fact two of her last three wins have come over a mile.

SMALL FIELDS THE KEY TO SILVER MIST

The South African gelding SILVER MIST (39) clocked a good time when storming from the back to win a valuable turf handicap at Nad Al Sheba last week. It's easy to dismiss his chances of winning anything better when you look at his form since he's lost all nineteen Group races that he has contested.

However I think that Silver Mist's long losing streak in Group company is misleading. It looks rather likely that the huge fields that most South African Group 1 and Group 2 races attract present a problem to Silver Mist. Early on in his career he was reported to have taken no interest in one contest, and he's had to be switched for a run in another. I think he prefers fields of a dozen or less as this means he doesn't have to fight his way through heavy traffic.

If Silver Mist hadn't been denied a clear run when beaten less than a length in one race and hadn't twice bumped into the South African Champion Pocket Power when running second he would have won ten of the last eleven times that he's run in fields of twelve or less in Group 3 or lower class.

The Group 3 Al Rashiidiya Stakes at Nad Al Sheba is coming up soon. It will probably attract a small enough field to make Silver Mist comfortable. So I'll be very interested in his chances if he runs there because he's a step ahead of the average Group 3 winner on my ratings.