The string in the outdoor trotting ring.
Warm, pleasant and rain free in Newmarket today.
I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. Our three runners performed well at Ascot on Saturday with the ground probably on the fast side for all of them.
Oasis Fantasy clearly likes the course and just bumped into a couple on an upward curve. Penhill, especially, looks set for a very fruitful summer.
Red Galileo rallied pleasingly in the Buckhounds to snatch second – the winner appears a very useful prospect and we will probably try 1m6f now.
Zarwaan paid for sitting up with a ferocious pace in the Victoria Cup – the placed horses were all held-up early – and he just had no more to give in the final furlong. Everything will drop right for him in one of these races at some stage!
One runner this afternoon with Field Of Light contesting the extended 1m maiden at Wolverhampton. His debut run at Windsor was by no means devoid of promise and that experience will not have been lost on him. This looks a pretty weak maiden all told and he should show up well.
Good luck to Chad, who returned from Australia yesterday and takes his first ride for us here – Wolverhampton is a far cry from Flemington, Randwick and Doomben, but we all have to start somewhere I suppose!
No declarations today but we have three running tomorrow with Dark Red and Ejbaar tackling the 1m maiden at Beverley while Biff Johnson makes his debut at Chelmsford.
Six entries at the weekend including Arethusa in Listed fillies’ trial at Newbury. She likes it quick, so we are hoping the relatively decent forecast is accurate. So too does Red Avenger, who could bid to leave his moody Goodwood performance behind in the 1m handicap on the same card.
Collateral form can be misleading but I must confess to being somewhat excited by the performances of both Toujours L’Amour, who won the Oaks Trial at Lingfield, and Irish Rookie, who finished second in the Pouliches at Longchamp over the weekend. That duo finished first and fifth in the Montrose in the autumn, a race in which we saddled Sagaciously to finish fourth, and it’s always nice to see Pattern form working out. We can’t wait to get her back on the course this summer.
Finally, the Racing XI made the perfect start to the cricketing summer when registering a victory over the Racing Post yesterday. I failed to add much gusto to proceedings, but it was good to get a win on the board, especially against the hacks!
Ed