Further and Beyond, the champion two-year-old of last year, had to dig deep into his reserves of class, grit and determination to achieve victory in the Prince Consort Stakes on Thursday, April 8, 2021, at Caymanas Park. The Prince Consort is run over seven furlongs and is one of the major races for three-year-olds preparing for the Classic races.

THE RACE

Installed as the 1-5 favourite in the nine-horse field and ridden by the joint champion jockey Dane Nelson, Further and Beyond fought desperately to fend off the late-charging and pesky 6/1 chance Billy Whizz (Anthony Thomas).

At the off, Billy Whizz was the first to show between the two adversaries. Further and Beyond then gathered momentum to eke out a slim lead that he held as his rider pushed forward.

For the next five furlongs, a ding-dong battle royal ensued to the end.

The two entered the last two furlongs of the stretch drive locked together and with no quarter being given by either Nelson or Thomas.

Further and Beyond galloping resolutely in a tough show of his resilience was able to hold his advantage to complete a hat-trick of wins. Setting the fractions with Billy Whizz at 24.0, 46.3, 1:11.2, the chestnut colt by Blue Pepsi Lodge – Rumble by Graeme Hall completed the seven-furlong jaunt in the princely time of 1:26 flat with stablemate Calculus, the mount of Linton Steadman, finishing 3 3/4 lengths behind in third as a 6/1 betting option.

Johncrowjeff finished fourth to complete the frame with Phillip Parchment in the saddle.

TRAINER’S COMMENT

“I did say before the race, he ( Further and Beyond) was about 75 per cent fit and as you can see, he still has a bit of a belly on him. He has not raced since Boxing Day of last year as we had given him quite a bit of time off. So, starting a seven-furlong race against Billy Whizz and Calculus is no mean task which means if he came out the winner, it was a bonus as I never expected him to win, to tell the truth, and when watching the race unfold, I kept saying he is going to get tired. Then, at the furlong pole, I said that he must get tired at this point, and then, all of a sudden, at half of a furlong out, he got tired. Frankly, that was to be expected. What I liked about the performance, though, is that he showed that he is all racehorse; one who has that competitive heart, spirit, and competitive drive. What he did was to dig in and fight off a good horse.”

POSITIVES

This was a good effort by the champion two-year-old. He will strip fitter from this his first race as a three-year-old and is sure to ignite his progress towards the upcoming Classic races. If Further and Beyond could win here, albeit by a short head, it does not fare well for others when they step up to 7 ½ furlongs and a mile.

Billy Whizz set the cats among the pigeons with his best performance in a while. It was good to see another of the three-year-old colts and geldings getting into the mix at this stage of the game. Let’s see how things unfold especially with the highly thought of Regnant waiting on the sidelines.

NEGATIVES

Probably the most noticeable non-performance was by the recent winner of the Sir Howard (six furlongs), Calculus.

Calculus was never in the race but going longer in the future he might be in there.