Good morning from Newmarket. We have just been ticking over quietly this week, but that is all set to change as we have three runners heading to Chepstow this afternoon and one to Chelmsford this evening.
I have been in touch with my travelling head lad Alex Nicholson, and he reports a fair amount of drizzly rain has fallen at Chepstow, which has kept the ground on the soft side. That is absolutely ideal for at least two of our runners today, so there should not be many excuses.
We get underway with Boston Girl in the 0-60 mile nursery at 2.25. This well-named filly - out of Morethanafeeling for you music buffs – has shown a hint of ability in four starts, without screaming that she is a winner in waiting. Her third at Nottingham (admittedly last of three) reads particularly well, and her nursery debut at Thirsk last time out also offered some encouragement. It could be that the mile just stretches her, but she did seem to travel better over the new trip on that most recent run, and hopefully she can do so again. We have decided to put on some cheekpieces today, and if they do encourage some further improvement she will hopefully be competitive. She is ideally served by a little ease in the ground, so the rain that has fallen should certainly help.
Our second runner is Alameery in the seven-furlong novice for three-year-olds and above at 4.05. This son of Kingman did not race as a two-year-old last year due to a few hold ups, but made a relatively encouraging racecourse debut at Lingfield three and a half weeks ago. The form of that race is probably nothing out of the ordinary, and he will need to take a big step forward to be seriously competitive this afternoon. However, he is a nice sort with a decent pedigree, and like most of our debutants we can expect some improvement from run one to run two. The ground is something of an unknown, but hopefully he can show us that he is going in the right direction.
The going is crucial to our third runner, the Shamardal three-year-old Helian, as we have been at pains not to risk him on jarring fast ground. He is another that was unraced last year, but he has had four runs this year at up to a mile and a quarter, and now finds himself on a handicap mark of 67. He actually ran at Chepstow two starts ago, so we know the track holds no fears, and we think he has been crying out for this step up to a mile and a half. It is great to sneak him into a 0-65 contest and the ground appears to have come in his favour, so hopefully this is a good opportunity for him to show us what he is made of. David Probert will be riding all of our Chepstow runners today.
We have to wait until the 8.20 at Chelsmford for our fourth and final runner, when Sir Gnet takes his chance in the mile and five-furlong 0-70 handicap. This is a new trip for Sir Gnet, as he has done most of his best work down at a mile and a quarter.
However, he is on the way back from a few little issues, and when we saw the small numbers on entry, it seemed like a good idea to throw him into this race and get him going again. So, he will improve for the outing and the trip is a question mark, but there are reasons to be vaguely hopeful. He has run well fresh before, goes nicely at Chelmsford, jockey Dan Muscutt has a good relationship with the horse, and the withdrawal of likely hot favourite Moonmeister has blown the race wide open. Hopefully Sir Gnet will be able to travel well up in distance and can produce a telling burst at the finish and be competitive.
Best wishes,
Ed.