Good afternoon from Newmarket. After a fairly quiet start to the week we kick back into action today with two exciting runners set to head to the races.
We begin with Toro Dorado in the 4.10 at Bath, a mile 0-65 handicap for three-year-olds. Toro has always shown a bit of ability, so it was frustrating that we had to wait until his 14th career start to break his maiden. He finally did so at Wolverhampton last month and has now strung together three very respectable runs in a row, following placed efforts at Newcastle and Epsom prior to his success.
The handicapper has inevitably reacted, pushing him up by four pounds back to a mark of 66. Interestingly, this is exactly the rating that he started the season on, so it will be intriguing to see exactly how much he has improved in the months since the start of the campaign.
There are other difficulties presented today, as we are drawn very wide in gate 13 and persistent rain at the track could yet ease the ground a little more than we would like. Add into the mix the unexposed Lucky Number of William Haggas’ and the potentially well-treated pair Corrida de Toros and Winterkoenigin and you realise that this will be no easy task. However, we have recently found the key to this horse, he continues in excellent form at home and he is running in the right sort of company. It will be disappointing should he not be competitive once again, so I keep my fingers crossed. Tom Queally takes the mount.
We have to wait until 8.15 for our second runner, when Caen Na Coille takes her chance in the seven-furlong fillies 0-70 handicap at Yarmouth. We have dropped this filly back in trip on her last two outings, and it so nearly paid dividends at Lingfield 11 days ago as she went down only in a driving finish to Red Romance. A reproduction of that effort should see her go close again, although she has been nudged up two pounds by the handicapper in the meantime.
I trained her dam Strathnaver some years ago, and she was effective on this sort of mark at seven-furlongs, before heading to the States where she did particularly well. So it would be great to get a win out of this filly, and for the third time in a row she heads to the races with a realistic chance of being competitive. The presence of recent Doncaster winner Dubai Elegance, the unexposed Backstreet Girl and the solid older handicappers Sonnet Rose and Roman Spinner ensures that this will be a fiercely contested race, but it will be disappointing should Caen Na Coille not be involved in the shakeup. The trip, track and ground will suit, and we are in at an appropriate level for her. There should not be too many excuses, James Doyle takes the ride.
All the best,
Ed.