So then the question is will Pendragon go off shorter ?
Robbie Wiilder’s write up in RP’s On The Nose will likely dent the price
“One thing which struck me about the St Leger meeting was how well the three-year-old
Pendragon ran in the face of a stiff task against higher-rated stayers in the Doncaster Cup.
Off the back of such a strong effort, he should be much shorter than the standout 8-1 available for next month’s Cesarewitch at Newmarket on October 11.
We won’t be getting that sort of juice on the day and he has a near-perfect profile for this major handicap, a race nailed on to be his next target.
Tackling slower ground for the first time at Doncaster, Pendragon moved powerfully into proceedings after racing keenly early doors and managed to hit an in-running low of 2-1 before being swallowed up by old favourite Sweet William.
The Doncaster Cup was the winner’s major aim for the season and he had the ideal set-up as the pace was strong and the leaders came back to him.
Pendragon was always up with that fierce gallop and didn’t give up the ghost the way the other prominent racers did when holding on for second, showing a commendable attitude while the other pace-setters, Sunway and Oxford Comma, finished tailed off.
He ran to a Racing Post Rating of 115 in the Doncaster Cup, just 4lb shy of the figures awarded to Scandinavia and Rahiebb in the following day’s St Leger, and superior to those handed to dual Derby winner (Lambourn) plus winners of the Queen's Vase (Carmers), Geoffrey Freer (Furthur) and Melrose (Tarriance), who were in behind.
The St Leger was a proper race and, in a parallel universe where geldings could contest the final Classic of the season, Pendragon wouldn’t have been simply making up the numbers.
With his stamina for such an extreme test like the Cesarewitch proven on Town Moor, Pendragon looks chucked in returned to a handicap off a mark of 97, despite the start of his winning sequence in June beginning off a BHA rating of just 69.
The classy son of Camelot is a typical Sir Mark Prescott three-year-old improver and the trainer wouldn’t have had such a big shout of finally breaking his Cesarewitch duck in years. “