Padre Palou gets up to win…eventually!

This was a first pattern success for Henk Grewe’s 5-year-old son of Mastercraftsman, but Padre Palou certainly didn’t make things easy for Thore Hammer Hansen. An initial look at the data from this Group 2 contest would suggest that this was relatively straight forward success. Padre Palou recorded the highest top speed figure in the contest at 40.20 mph and he was the fastest horse in each of the final 2-furlongs. However, in a small field race, tactics became important and having brought his mount wide into the straight to make his challenge, it initially appeared that Padre Palou wasn’t going to go past. He was eventually driven out by his energetic jockey but it was only in the final few strides that he could be called the winner and he appeared to make heavy weather of this success. The stride frequency data shows that this race became a 2-furlong sprint finish and having averaged 2.33 strides per second in the final furlong, the highest of the 5-runner field, Padre Palou was quicker than it may have appeared visually as he wore down Ami de Vega in the final strides. To his credit, he also recorded the fastest run-out speed figure in the field at 36.04 mph and closer examination of the data would suggest that this effort was a lot more impressive than the replay might suggest. Ami de Vega came into this race on the back of Listed and Group 3 wins in Scandinavia and the 3rd placed Diamond Crown had run well behind North Reliance in a Listed race at Hamburg 3-weeks ago, which gives this form a relatively solid look. Taking into account the steady early pace and the finishing speed of 105%, Padre Palou has actually emerged with a lot of credit to get his head to the front on the line. After 11 starts, we know a lot about him and as a 5-year-old he is open to only limited improvement, but he has finished in the first 3 on 9 of those 11 starts and should continue to pay his way in pattern company.