Red Cadeaux and Steve.
A beautiful warm afternoon and the forecasters are suggesting a sunny weekend.
Two students from a AFSAC, an equine college in France, came in and rode one lot for us this morning. They are visiting Newmarket to broaden their experience and they impressed with their skills.
A disappointing day yesterday with little to recommend from our four runners. Sporting Prince, Seaworthy and Alan Turing all ran disappointingly, although Field Of Light provided some saving grace by finishing third behind two upwardly mobile rivals at Ripon. He looks capable of winning a handicap over a mile and a quarter having pulled nicely clear of the fourth.
Two runners this afternoon in the space of ten minutes. Pyla goes first in the mile and a furlong handicap at Lingfield and we are on somewhat of a retrieval mission with her following a shocking run at Wolverhampton last time. However, her reappearance fourth at Chelmsford has worked out well, suggesting there was life in this mark, and Hayley Turner is back on board.
Tocororo returns to a mile and a half in the 0-65 at Wolverhampton having shaped promisingly over this trip on her comeback at Kempton. We thought the step up to a mile and six at Nottingham would suit, but she changed her legs continually on quick-enough ground and didn’t get home, so the return to a synthetic surface should suit. Martin Harley maintains the partnership.
We made two declarations for Epsom on Saturday. Unfortunately we have nothing for the big one, but Dutch Uncle will line up in the opening mile and a quarter handicap under Frankie Dettori while Richard Hughes will partner Oasis Fantasy in the mile and a half handicap later on the card.
Eleven entries for next Wednesday spread across four meetings. Arethusa was given the option of running in the seven furlong fillies’ handicap at Kempton.
I had an excellent evening at the Derby Dinner yesterday. Freddie Tulloch drew the Ken Condon-trained Success Days in the annual runner raffle, so we will be cheering him home on Saturday!
More tomorrow. Ed