Walking home.
A warm and pleasant morning which is set to continue into the afternoon.
We took six horses to the Al Bahathri first lot including Zarwaan and Alqubbah, who is entered at Kempton on Thursday. Richard Hills rode her and Angus Gold and Kate Whitehouse of Shadwell joined us to watch their charges.
We also cantered a host of our two-year-olds on the Al Bahathri second lot. Nev and Pam Statham plus Pam’s brother and his wife were here to see Zaufally and Arethusa. We also hosted a seven-person tour from Discover Newmarket, which Hannah very ably led once again.
I was delighted by the victory of Hanno at Brighton yesterday. He proved frustrating last year but his owner, Mrs Moseley, has shown great patience with him and it was wonderful that he could get off the mark at the twelfth attempt. The heavy rain that fell throughout the afternoon was a concern, but he got through the ground ok and showed real battling qualities up the hill. He should remain competitively handicapped once reassessed and Pat Dobbs suggested we go a mile and a quarter with him now.
I am about to leave for York with Mrs Stewart-Brown ahead of Times Up and Red Galileo running in the Listed Grand Cup this afternoon. As the betting suggests, this is a really open contest and Clever Cookie, who dead-heated in the race last year, looked better than ever in the Ormonde and is probably the one to beat.
That said, Times Up shaped better than the bare result on his reappearance having blown up close home and he worked nicely last week. Red Galileo ran his best race of the season when bumping into an unexposed one at Ascot last month and we think the step up in trip will really suit. I’m pleased the ground won’t be too quick for either.
No declarations this morning. Dark Red was in at Carlisle and Windsor but we are going to wait a little longer with him.
Quite light on the entries front as well although we did make a couple for Oaks afternoon with God Willing a possibility for the one mile handicap and Fieldsman, who won nicely at the course last year, has been pencilled in for the three-year-old 0-100 over seven furlongs.
Finally, we might be at the start of an Ashes summer but the current series against New Zealand has been Test cricket at its absolute finest. Yesterday was another fantastic spectacle and James Anderson’s achievement of becoming the first Englishman to take 400 Test wickets is incredible. The swagger has returned to English cricket and the game is great to watch again.
Have an enjoyable weekend.
Ed