Fencing surprises opponents in Battersea Dogs & Cats Home Paradise Stakes
Fencing stunned his opponents in the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home Paradise Stakes (Listed) at Ascot in England on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Despite not being rated as the favourite to succeed, he finished on top of the table comfortably.
The American stallion was given a general starting price of 9 to 2 and had to battle out hard against some extremely good challengers in the race. However, he did not choke under pressure and gave a tough time to one and all from the start until the end.
As soon as the traps were opened, the four-year-old gelding came out aggressively. However, he did not waste enough energy at that point and stayed behind the rest of the pack. The overall distance to cover was one mile, so he preferred saving some gas in
the tank.
Since the going was good, all of the runners had the chance to go out with all guns blazing. Luckily for Fencing, no one was able to charge the way he did, thus he finished on top of the table by more than two lengths in the end. His team would have been
delighted with the outcome of the race, as no one was really expecting him to deliver such a strong result overall.
Looking at the record of the American stallion, it is quite clear that he has been unable to perform with consistency. He has participated in a total of eight races, winning two of them whereas secured the third spot thrice. Other than that, his performances
have been below par on most of the times, which is a touch disappointing for his team.
However, his trainer John Gosden was happy with the result and stated, “He wasn't going to be a stallion and it's amazing how much happier he is now. He was quite a tense horse and didn't give himself much chance.”
He added, “We'll stick to a mile, he's had a bit of bad luck and he's always been kept in good company, so he enjoyed today. He's returned a bigger, braver horse for the operation and he ran well in the Guineas and the Dante and hopefully this season will
be different.”
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