Goldspun
It is a little overcast here in HQ but it is mild for the time of year. There is still the Racing Post Trophy to come this weekend but the turf season is starting to wind down. We are trying to get the two year-olds that are ready to run out on the grass before the season is over.
I was delighted with Dark Red on Saturday. He ran a fantastic race in the Balmoral and ran a career best when finishing third. He will have a well deserved holiday now and I look forward to having him back here next year. Wealth Tax ran well yesterday, he found the mile at Windsor a little sharp given that he had to race towards the rear of the field from his wide draw.
We run seven horses today and nearly all of them are two year-olds. Navajo Squaw runs in the first at Yarmouth at 1:30. She showed a little ability on debut but she looks like a filly who will improve with a Winter on her back and I would be surprised to see her troubling the judge today. Goldspun makes her debut in the second division of the fillies’ mile Novice at 14:00. She is a well-bred daughter of Nathaniel who will improve for this first start and I am just hoping for some signs of encouragement from her.
Mutabaahy runs in the 6f Nursery at 15:00. He showed signs of promise on his second start but was very disappointing in terrible ground at Haydock last time. If you take the form of his Lingfield run literally then he is very closely matched with the favourite and if he can relax and finish his race off then he has each way claims in a very open looking Nursery. First Quest has been given a chance by the handicapper and he had too much to do last time when fourth at Catterick. He is up against two progressive sorts here and Hajaam has been a revelation recently and runs off a mark two pounds lower than his new mark allocated today. We have small each way claims but he will need to improve to beat the front two in the market.
Global Spirit is our first runner at Kempton this evening. He has been a little keen in his first starts and I hope he can settle better this evening. On what he has shown so far he has a lot to do and I hope he will fare better in handicaps with time. It is fantastic to be giving a ride to my Apprentice Harry Burns who was very ill last year and it is great to see him back in the saddle.
Conflagration and Global Wonder both run in the second division of the 6f Novice at 7:15. Conflagration never really got involved at Windsor when the front three raced well ahead of the field. I hope he can build on that here but he will have to if he is to beat the two principles in the market. Global Wonder has raced too freely the last twice and I am hoping that the drop back to 6f will get him to settle better. If he relaxes and finishes off his race then he should run respectably.