A beautiful sunny day here at HQ this morning and we headed to the watered gallop with a few of the horses first lot. It was beautiful ground and the horses appreciated the slight ease in it. I continue to be happy with them all and the two year olds are progressing week by week.
It was a fantastic evening at Sandown yesterday with a good crowd in attendance and I was delighted to win with both of our runners. Inniscastle Lad keeps surprising me and Silvestre said there should be more improvement from him again and that one and a half miles should not be a problem. He was incredibly tough and was headed by the second before battling back. Global Applause was back to his best and he showed us the sparkle he shows at home when winning the Listed National Stakes. He broke very smartly and travelled well on the rail before showing a very good turn of foot to put the race to bed. We will freshen him up now and head to Royal Ascot with him in three weeks’ time.
We have two runners today at Bath and Haydock. Manjaam was disappointing at Newbury last time but Ryan felt he hated the rain softened ground, we are hoping for a better display on a quicker surface this afternoon. It is a competitive race and Visage Blanc is well in after her Listed fourth at Goodwood. I hope we can learn something and that he can run a solid race. Shafafya heads to Haydock for a very competitive handicap at 5:10. The form of her last race is working out and she is due to go up a pound in the future, the ground is in her favour too. Ideally we would have run in an easier race but finding one at this time of year where the ground conditions are suitable is extremely tough. She could run fourth or fifth and run very well as Huntlaw looks well handicapped, Amazement has won well recently, as has Threat Assessed and there are seven last time out winners in the field.
The British Racing School newsletter came out today and I was very interested to read about the new Mobile Training facility that the BRS have acquired. It looks like a two horse box but within it is a racehorse simulator with cameras, a video review facility and a ‘pop up’ classroom. Not only will this help with the recruitment drive to get more people into racing but it means the jockey coaches can come in to the yards. Quite often Apprentices are too busy to make it to the BRS and the Mobile Training Facility will mean more Apprentices will get high class coaching more often and some that would have never had any coaching will be able to get some help. It is a fantastic initiative.