Gear Up (horse)

The 2020 flat racing season in England was disrupted by the COVID-19 Pandemic with racing being abandoned from mid-March until June when it was resumed behind closed doors. On 25 July at York Racecourse Gear Up made his racecourse debut over seven furlongs in a novice race (for two-year-olds with no more than two previous wins) and started at odds of 12/1 in a ten-runner field. Ridden by Silvestre de Sousa he was restrained towards the rear in the early stages before overcoming difficulty in obtaining a clear run and overtook the leader Henrik inside the final furlong to win by one and half lengths.[6] The colt was then stepped up in class for the Group 3 Acomb Stakes over the same course and distance on 19 August when he was partnered by De Sousa and started the 9/1 fourth choice in the betting. He was in contention from the start but looked to be outpaced three furlongs out before staying on strongly to gain the advantage in the final strides and won won "gamely" by half a length from Spycatcher.[7] After the race Mark Johnston said: "He got loose before he won on his debut and everyone was thinking of him as quite a difficult horse... He was very different in the prelims today – laid back and relaxed... He's not the most impressive horse at home, but we’ve seen his style again today, he looked the first under pressure then found more and more. He wants a mile now and he’s bred to get a mile."[8]

Franny Norton took the ride when Gear Up moved up in class and distance for the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes over one mile at Newmarket Racecourse on 26 September when he raced in second place for most of the way but was unable to make any progress in the last quarter mile and came home fourth of the five runners behind New Mandate, Ontario and Cobh, beaten two and a half lengths by the winner. On 24 October the colt was sent to France for the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 2000 metres on heavy ground at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in which he was ridden by James Doyle. He started the 27/1 outsider of the seven-runner field which also included the favourite Makaloun (winner of the Prix de Conde), the filly Tiger Tanaka (Prix Marcel Boussac) and the German challenger Best of Lips (Preis des Winterfavoriten). In a change of tactics Gear Up led from the start and repelled several challengers to win by a short neck from his fellow long-shot Botanik.[9] Johnston stated that the colt would be aimed at the following year's Epsom Derby while Doyle commented "He was still a bit green under pressure when we turned into the straight and he just wanted to hang to his left. It took probably half a furlong to get him fully straightened up but once we did, he powered away nicely."[10]