Easter Egg hunters on Friday
A wild morning here in Newmarket with severe winds and driving rain. The horses started their week up the Warren Hill Polytrack. I was very happy with Dutch Uncle’s run in the Rosebery and he just ran into a very well handicapped horse. He was well positioned during the race after overcoming a difficult draw and saw his race out well given he had been off since last summer. Michael’s Mount showed some promise but the race turned into a sprint down the home straight and this did not suit him.
There was some fantastic racing out in Dubai and Art Sherman’s confidence beforehand was vindicated when California Chrome made light of his bad draw and won the Dubai World Cup with ease. His Chromie fan base will have only got bigger and he became the highest earning North American racehorse in history after this win. This will be his last year in training but it sounds like the Breeders’ Cup Classic will be his swansong. Postponed was equally impressive when landing the Dubai Sheema Classic for Roger Varian and he is now joint favourite for the Arc. Euro Charline ran a huge race when finishing second for our next door neighbour Marco Botti in the Dubai turf. She could not quite reel in the Japanese horse Real Steel but once more proved herself to be a Group One performer.
It was sad to see that Cape Cross has been retired from Stud duties. He sired our star mare Ouija Board and is also the sire of Sea The Stars and Golden Horn. He is therefore the only sire who has dual winners of both the Derby and the Arc.
Finally I must mention the cricket. It was fantastic to see England hold their nerve after Sri Lanka looked like they had started to get the upper hand and Jordan and Stokes produced some fantastic death bowling to ensure we won by ten runs. I hope we can overcome New Zealand in the semi-finals before a tough game against either the West Indies or India in the final.