Having inspected numerous youngsters in Ireland over the last three months, we believe that we have finally chosen a lovely young stayer to join the Johnny Murtagh yard. He should excel in Ireland as a three-year-old before plans are made for him to come to Australia. His name is Knightlaila and hopefully he will emulate the feats of Ottoman Emperor, who was purchased in similar circumstances.
Knightlaila is showing great promise on the racetrack, confirmed by riders who have been on his back. This provides confidence that this youngster will work his way through handicaps to stakes races.
Knightlaila has had two runs in 2022 as an early three-year-old. Both were at 1600m. He was a fast finishing third,beaten less than a length in his first start, before leading down the straight to be beaten a head in his second. In the second race, he gave the winner 5kgs. In both races, he was quite green and raced wide throughout, and with any luck could have won both. His performance in these first two runs were all the more appealing given the horse is expected to be at his best between 2000-2400m.
Knightlaila has now entered Johnny Murtagh’s stable at The Curragh. Once settled in, Johnny will look to start him around April/May with the view of assessing his ability for some of the better races during the summer. Ideally, the plan would be to have the horse at his peak for feature three-year-old races in Ireland and England in August. Australia could beckon thereafter.
We look forward to watching Knightlaila’s career progress in Ireland with the legendary Johnny Murtagh before a likely relocation to Australian shores.
