I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We have had another cold snap here in Newmarket and whilst the weather is a photographer’s dream, the conditions are treacherous for the racehorses. Having had snow yesterday we are now just below freezing but thankfully we are meant to rise well above zero tomorrow.
King Kevin brought up a significant milestone on Boxing Day when becoming my 1000th domestic winner. He has started to grasp what the racing game is about and has been extremely consistent in recent weeks. He has now won three times and I hope there are more races to be won with him in the future.
We have two runners at Lingfield this afternoon. Garsington has not shown us much in two starts and with some smart performers amongst his rivals in the 7f Novice, he looks to be up against it. Ode To Autumn has a double figure draw he ran into some useful types on the turf and returning from a gelding operation he looks the horse to beat. Conflagration was disappointing on his Nursery debut but he appeared to get run off his feet over 6f and I hope this 7f trip will be more to his liking. He has drawn the widest stall in twelve which is not helpful but the race would appear to have little depth and I hope he can run respectably. Corazon Espinado is the rightful favourite given he ran well last time and he has a good draw. Dark Freedom could well improve for this step up to seven furlongs and Isoletta cannot be discounted given she has some solid form in the book.