Archimento
We have had a dry morning here but it has become overcast as the morning has gone on. We are due some rain from Wednesday onwards but the amounts may not be vast and Newmarket could remain on the fast side of good come the weekend. The horses had an easy day today but I will be working a small amount of them tomorrow in preparation for assignments in the near future.
Sagely was very impressive yesterday and she proved that she handles the turf and that the step up in trip was ideal. We were hopeful that she would go close as it did not appear to be a strong race but we were not expecting her to win by quite as far as she did. The handicapper will not be kind to her so we will give her an entry under a penalty and if she comes out of her race well she may run again in the near future.
We have four runners today and Archimento headed up to Redcar yesterday in preparation for the 5:05 today. There does not seem to be a lot of strength in depth to the race but the Hughie Morrison horse has only had one run and looks the obvious danger. I felt that the softer ground caught him out last time over a mile and I am hoping that the firmer surface today will help him to see the trip out. Michael’s Mount and Blushes both head to Brighton after their races were abandoned at Windsor last Monday. Michael’s Mount drops down in trip and I am hoping that he will be able to cope with ten furlongs, Magnum has blinkers applied and he boasts some decent form having just been beaten by Midterm in 2015. Paling has been consistent recently and Calliope steps out of maiden company so it is not an easy race but he is hopefully a progressive type. Blushes looked in need of a step up in trip after her last run so we have upped her to a mile today, she carries top weight which is not ideal but I hope she can run well in this company. Snow Pixie makes her debut in the 7;30 at Windsor and she is closely related to our Superstar filly Snow Fairy. She will learn a lot from today as most of our debutants tend to and there are some well bred types in the race.
The raiding party fared well in the French Guineas with The Gurka winning the 2,000 with great authority by five and a half lengths, Simon Crisford’s First Selection ran a huge race to finish second. Connections will be very tempted to run the son of Galileo in the Derby now given how open it looks and he has improved significantly on each start. The fancied French runners were disappointing and so it is hard to assess the strength of this contest but he was a class above the rest of the field. Nathra ran a huge race in the 1,000 Guineas to finish second but it was won by the French filly La Cressonniere who is by Le Havre out of a Galileo mare. She looks very smart and has an unbeaten record. I was lucky enough to get four purchases from the Deauville Breeze Up sale and one was a Galileo and one a Le Havre.