Mrs D and myself headed up to London yesterday evening for a dinner hosted by Highclere at Fortnum and Mason. Nick Luck and Oli Bell hosted the evening and Nick Luck, Tom Segal and Frankie Dettori sat on a panel and discussed the upcoming Royal meeting. There were numerous celebrities in attendance and esteemed Olympians Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes and Victoria Pendleton were amongst the attendees, Rory Bremner did some fantastic impersonations. I joined the panel to talk about Global Applause, he has come out of the National Stakes well and will hopefully be spot on for next Thursday. We worked some horses on the Al Bahathri today and I was very pleased with how they went.
Inniscastle Lad was our only runner yesterday and he ran well at Haydock when finishing third in the finale. He was unable to make the running as he had in his previous three runs when winning but he showed a very good attitude to stay on resolutely to be beaten by around half a length. We could well step him up to a mile and half next and that may bring about further improvement.
Alqubbah runs today in the 4:20 at York and the 9mm of rain that fell this morning was just what we needed, the ground is now good and anymore rain will be welcomed. It is a competitive race but she should have a very good chance, you can discount her Goodwood run as she was unable to get a clear run and her two runs before that were very good. Michael’s Mount is due to run in the 7:50 at Goodwood but if the ground dries out a lot then he may well not run. The step back up to twelve furlongs will suit as the ten furlongs at Brighton were too sharp for him and he is better than what he showed there. As the betting suggests it is a very competitive small field handicap but we hope he has a good each way chance.
England have managed to gain control of the third Test thanks to a superb innings from Jonny Bairstow. He is currently 166 not out and England have got past 400 which did not seem likely before tea yesterday.