Al Hamd leading Sharaakah on the Al Bahathri
What a difference a day makes. It is a beautiful Spring day here at Headquarters and the sun is shining. The rain definitely got into the ground on day one of the Craven meeting and the ground was soft. We worked some of the horses on the Flat Gallop this morning adjacent to the Rowley Mile and I was pleased with how they went. It has been a busy morning this morning and John and Jake Warren came to see the horses they purchased that are resident here at La Grange. Philip Freedman was here this morning to see his two fillies Condensed and Social Media and William Wyatt was here to see his filly Instigation. Lady Lloyd-Webber came to see her two year old Dansili colt out of Crystal Maze and the two fillies that her mother has an interest in, Blushes and Sagaciously. Peter Doyle also dropped in to see Verismo as he bought the horse for his owner Benny Andersson
I was very pleased with how the three horses all ran at Newmarket yesterday. Cliff Face and Dora’s Field both ran with promise in the opening fillies’ maiden, Dora’s Field travelled well and just showed her inexperience when hanging slightly and Cliff Face stuck to the task well when running on up the stand’s rail. Archimento was third in the 7f maiden and after breaking well he battled on and just got slightly tired in the latter stages of the race, they were clear of the fourth and I was delighted.
We have three runners at Newmarket today and one runner up at Beverley. Swiftee makes his debut in the Wood Ditton and I hope he will like the cut in the ground, he will improve for the run and it is usually a very warm maiden so I am just hoping he shows us some promise. Makman runs in the Novice Stakes and whilst he has come on for his debut we have it all to do on the form book. The favourite won his Wolverhampton maiden by nine lengths and we were beaten at Kempton by the Mick Channon horse that was second to him. Tomily the second favourite shaped with a lot of promise when just in front of us last time. The protagonists are all switching from the all-weather to the turf so you never know but we do have it all to do.
Amazing Red runs in the maiden at 5:05 and he is a half-brother to Red Cadeaux that we like. It looks like it could be an extremely warm affair however and the favourite of John Gosden’s has been heavily touted as a horse to follow this season. Al Hamd runs up at Beverley and we are opposing a horse that is running eight pounds well in, we are hoping he will go very close. Motdaw was impressive last time but it was on heavy ground, that can exaggerate winning margins and it is difficult to run back quickly after running on heavy ground even if he did win very easily.
I bought two horses at the Craven Breeze-Up Sales last night and they have arrived in the yard this morning. One is a good looking, strong son of Poet’s Voice that was consigned by Star Bloodstock and the other is a son of Dark Angel consigned by Oak Tree Farm in Ireland who looks a fine prospect for this year. It is exciting to have two more two year olds here at La Grange for the 2016 season.
It was terrible to hear the news that James Taylor has had to retire from the game of cricket, he is only twenty six and it is cruel to have both your passion and your profession taken away from you under such terrible circumstances. I met him in South Africa at the races and he is a fantastic person. I wish him all the best for the future.
Finally I must comment on the change in the Trainer’s Championship which means it now runs from January 1st until December 31st. It makes a lot of sense and is the logical way of measuring a Trainer’s achievement, Mark Johnston will be very happy indeed.