Tadleel
It has been a miserable morning in Newmarket and 8mm of rain has fallen already onto what was already soft ground. There is plenty more forecast but thankfully it looks like we may have a relatively dry spell after today. We have been patient and will not introduce some more newcomers until we get some better ground next week as a two year old’s first run is very important and if they have a very hard race on bad ground on debut it can leave its mark.
Sagely was disappointing yesterday but she was squeezed out when making a challenge and she may have done too much early on in the race to secure a good position from her wide draw. It may also be that she is a filly who is better on turf and I hope there is some fast ground about when she is next ready to run.
We run three horses today at Brighton and Kempton. Tadleel is our first runner in the 2:20 at Brighton and he sets the standard in the 7f Novice. He does have to shoulder a 7lb penalty which is never easy to do. Strategic and Groveman have both suggested they have ability without threatening to win and are dangers. Al Ozzdi was sent off a short price at Newmarket’s July meeting and must be thought better than he showed there, if a first time tongue tie makes a difference he could be a live threat too.
Weloof and Mudallel have both been gelded recently. Weloof won his Maiden well before disappointing twice. He has been going nicely at home lately and as long as the ground is ok we hope he can translate that onto the track. You could not be confident given how he has run the last twice but we are hopeful he will put his best foot forward. It’s a valuable first prize for the rating band and it has therefore attracted a competitive field. The track suits Cricklewood Green and he has plenty of ability when he is on a going day, Lord Clenaghcastle should go well again and Hellfire was third in a strong fillies’ handicap at Ascot recently.
Mudallel showed a lot of promise on debut and has been very disappointing since. I hope he can relax and get a good position from his inside draw and it will be nice to see him finish off his race well. The trip and track should suit him and he should be competitive off of this sort of mark if the gelding operation has done its job. Tobrave makes his handicap debut and he has been gelded since his last run, he could prove to be a different proposition today. Narjes was very disappointing when even money favourite at Wolves, she needs to bounce back from that run and she has been weak in the market this morning. Seprani won last time but looked quite exposed before that, she is the only last time out winner in the field however.