Red Gifford and Goliath.
A little cooler this morning but not too unpleasant.
I hope you all enjoyed an excellent weekend. The Newmarket XI were due to play the Lambourn cricket side yesterday afternoon, but our opponents could not muster a team, so instead we played an over 30s versus under 30s friendly, with us lot showing the younger brigade a thing or two!
On Saturday I was at York with Mrs Stewart-Brown and neither of our runners disgraced themselves in the Grand Cup.
Two furlongs out and it looked like Red Galileo would take plenty of beating but he possibly didn’t quite get home. The early pace was pretty generous and he would perhaps benefit from a more patient ride over that trip. Times Up plugged on to finish fifth, but Phillip Makin wasn’t discouraged by his run and we will see what the handicapper does tomorrow. He holds an entry in the Northumberland Plate and that could be quite an attractive option.
No runners today but five declarations for Wednesday split across four meetings. Alan Turing will make his debut at Chelmsford, Field Of Light heads to Ripon, Seaworthy goes to Wolverhampton and Sporting Prince will join God Willing at Nottingham.
Thirteen entries for the weekend on what will be a manic Saturday. We did not confirm Red Cadeaux for the Coronation Cup – he will go for either the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot or the Curragh Cup – but we entered Dutch Uncle and Oasis Fantasy on the Epsom card. We also made entries at Musselburgh, Newcastle, Doncaster and Lingfield plus two for Goodwood on Sunday.
Finally, Reg Gifford popped in this morning to see Dora’s Field, his Rip Van Winkle two-year-old having first visited La Grange at the open day last year. Reg also brought along his pride and joy – the 13-stone bruiser that is Goliath – and it was a privilege to welcome a Crufts competitor to the yard! He had been participating in the Newbury Dog Show over the weekend and he’s some sight.
Back tomorrow. Ed