Apart from next week-end's Hungerford Stakes at Newbury, the domestic menu between Glorious Goodwood and York has very much a bread-and-butter base, so, while Ed still has the Ebor meeting in mind for several of his stable-stars, he has not ruled out swapping the traditional roast for a seafood lunch in France on the next two Sundays, taking in the delights of Deauville.
Ed said:"The ground will determine where we go, but if it came up soft at York we might well keep SNOW FAIRY back for Deauville on August 21 in the hope that underfoot conditions would be more suitable for the Prix Jean Romanet, a mile and a quarter G1 race for fillies and mares only."
"Obviously, we would like to run Snow Fairy at York, where she could either take on the colts in the Juddmonte International or stay with her own sex and run in the Yorkshire Oaks, but it will all depend on the ground as it can sometimes come up soft on the Knavesmire."
"Snow Fairy is very well and looks to have improved again since she ran so well against Midday in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. I suspected she might as she had been off a long time before she ran in the Eclipse, and she definitely seems to be progressing. We can only hope that she gets her favoured fast ground either at York or in France."
In contrast, Ed is hoping that there will be some ease in the ground at Deauville next Sunday as he is contemplating running RED CADEAUX in the G2 Prix Kergorlay. He said:"I should never have run Red Cadeaux in the Goodwood Cup. The ground was almost good on the eve of the meeting, but in sweltering temperatures it dried up so quickly, and come the Thursday it proved far too fast for Red Cadeaux, who won't be running in the Ebor as it would not be fair to ask him to hump 9st 10lb."
Goodwood is one of Ed's favourite meetings, but, while several of our horses ran well there this year, we had no luck in running with KANAF, in particular, suffering traffic problems in the Stewards Cup, in which he finished fifth.
Ed added:"Granted better luck in running, KANAF could well have finished better than fifth, but he ran a blinder so I have no complaints. He is a hold-up sprinter so is always going to need the breaks, but I am sure that there is a big handicap in him this season, and we will have a look at both the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon and the Ayr Gold Cup. He did not go up for Goodwood, which was a relief."
"BURWAAZ, who produced a career best performance when runner-up in the Molecomb Stakes, went up 5lb to a mark of 104. He is still entered in the Gimcrack and going back up to six furlongs would not be a problem, while TANFEETH, who should have won the big mile and a half handicap down there, could go for a similar race up at York. He ran much better than his fifth place suggests at Goodwood as he was in front far too soon, and he is another who I am sure can pick up a decent prize this season."
Assessing his view on the team overall, Ed said:"I am well pleased with them. We are having our fair share of winners - they can't all be superstars, but it is encouraging that the ordinary ones are winning, and I am also very pleased how the second batch of two-year-olds are shaping up."
"MUGAZALA, who is a Sakhee half-sister to Tanfeeth, ran well first time out at Newmarket on Saturday, and the one disappointment was SHAMAAL NIBRAS there the previous evening. He had broken his maiden in some style at Wolverhampton and is one we like a lot, but he got very sweaty and stirred up in the preliminaries and never ran his race. He started to worry the moment the saddle went on, and we know that he is better than that."