'He's put in a monster performance' - Clarendon House breaks course record to set up potential Meydan trip

Clarendon House broke the 5f course record at Southwell when landing the feature £25,200 sprint under PJ McDonald.

The Robert Cowell-trained five-year-old made a successful all-weather debut at Wolverhampton last month and he followed up here off a 4lb higher mark to justify 11-4 favouritism.

Middleham Park Racing’s son of Mehmas, assisted by a tailwind, conceded weight all round to score by two and half lengths in a time of 56.20 seconds. The previous record had been held by Digital, who won in a time of 56.92 seconds in February 2022.

“We didn’t quite see that coming into today,” said Middleham Park director Tim Palin. “It was a massive acid test for him and he’s passed it with flying colours. We’ve always had him down as a Listed, borderline Group horse.

“He ran in a Nunthorpe for us and was put in his place that day, but against these guys he’s a horse who is fully effective at five furlongs. The Tapeta seems to suit him and he’s put in a monster performance.

“We’ve got a serious racehorse that’s going to have a big Racing Post Rating in the morning. In terms of the winter season he’s a big fish.”

Tim Palin: "We've got a serious racehorse"Credit: Laura Green

Clarendon House is unbeaten since being gelded in August, and Palin added: “I think there were 11 higher-rated Mehmas’ [offspring] than him in the summer so we thought he's not going to be a stallion, let's do the sensible thing, geld him and see if we can eke out 7lb of improvement, and it looks like that’s been proven true.”

Clarendon House could return to Southwell for the Listed Hever Sprint Stakes staged on the track’s inaugural Winter Derby card that has been moved from Lingfield on February 24.

“That could be on the agenda or we might want to go to slightly sunnier climes. I live in Lincolnshire and Southwell is just south of Lincolnshire, but it’d be lovely to jump on a plane and go to Meydan or somewhere like that for a Group 2.

"Robert is virtually imperious when it comes to sprinters and getting the very best out of them, so we’re in the very best hands we could possibly be."

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