Amazing Red arrived safely yesterday afternoon at San Sebastian racecourse, ahead of the Listed Copo De Oro Stakes on Thursday evening.
He is in the care of La Grange team members Scott McGeorge and former jockey Tom McLaughlin, who travelled with the horse through the night from Newmarket to Chantilly, having set off on Saturday evening. After resting for a period they then undertook the mammoth journey from French racing’s HQ to northern Spain first thing on Monday.
That final leg of the journey took 12 hours but, as you can see from the attending photos, Amazing Red seems to have survived the ordeal remarkably well - probably better than his human companions!
Scott takes up the story: ‘We arrived at around 4.30pm on Monday afternoon and the vet was on hand to greet Amazing Red and give him some fluids as soon as we arrived, and we then led him out on the grass later in the evening. We had him out at 7am on Tuesday morning to do a light hack and a trot on the sand ring, and we will look to try and get him on some grass on Wednesday so he can really get a feel for the place. Tom says he feels great underneath him, and the best news is that he looks fantastic in his skin and is eating up very well - which was always a slight concern with a potentially nervous traveller. I have spoken with the Boss and reported that I couldn’t be happier with where we have him at the moment.’
Now that Amazing Red has arrived in San Sebastian, our attention is turning to studying the opposition and the likely tactical makeup of the race in greater detail. The ground is currently in perfect condition, and with not too much rain forecast between now and the race, hopefully we will see something akin to good ground come Thursday. The 11 strong field features numerous dangers and this looks set to be a furiosuly competitive race. The local three-year-olds are reported to be strong, a couple of French-trained horses including last year's victor Cnicht are dangerous, the Borja Fayos Martin ridden Zascandil is very well fancied locally, whilst the formerly Roger Charlton-trained Atty Persse is very smart on his day. So, we know we have our work cut out, but hopefully Amazing Red can put his best foot forward and be involved in the shake-up.
Our jockey Jose-Luis Martinez is a multiple Champion Jockey in Spain, whose services were highly recommended by numerous local racing experts.
Now all we can do is hope that Amazing Red continues to thrive in the Spanish sunshine over the next 48 hours or so, and keep our fingers crossed for the big race on Thursday evening! We wish Amazing Red, the team on track, and his fabulously loyal owner the Hon. Ronnie Arculli the very best of luck.