Hello from Newmarket. Sweltering heat and very fast ground has kept us relatively quiet this week, but we are in action with two at Yarmouth this afternoon.
We kick off with Global Acclamation in the 4.20, a seven-furlong 0-65 handicap, and hopefully he has a sporting each way chance. Enthusiasm is tempered somewhat by the fairly inconsistent look to his form, and we have really struggled to settle on a correct trip for him, but his latest run at Brighton was a major step back in the right direction.
He was a six-furlong winner on the AW earlier in the year, before his form appeared to tail off and we wondered if he maybe just didn’t handle turf. However, the Brighton run allayed those fears and also appeared to confirm that seven-furlongs is well within his compass. Add this to the fact he ran respectably at Yarmouth as a juvenile, and you would have to say there are very few excuses. It is a competitive race, of course, but there seems no reason why he should not give a good account.
Our second runner is Achaeus in the mile and a quarter 0-60 handicap at 4.50. This horse made a promising start to his career, but things have gone downhill fast since he started in handicaps. He was a moderate sixth of seven on handicap debut at Wolverhampton in April, and then on his first start since a short break and being gelded he was tailed off at Doncaster last month.
We need to see a major revival, and we step back down two furlongs in trip this afternoon to see if that might help his cause. As a good-looking half-brother to the Melbourne Cup winner Almandin, and from an excellent family, we really have to hope that he can prove better than a mark of 56 at some point. However, his last run was so poor that it is difficult to have much optimism. Hopefully on a nice conventional track, over a slightly shorter trip, he might be able to show us a little more talent. Tom Queally will be in the saddle for both of our runners this afternoon.
All the best,
Ed.