Good morning from Newmarket. We head north to Haydock this afternoon with a pair of runners, and hopefully we can enjoy a productive afternoon.
We kick off with Global Express in the mile and a quarter 0-75 three-year-old handicap at 2.10. This horse has been a fraction disappointing so far this season, as he looked a promising sort on his Salisbury debut last year but has not stepped forward in two novice outings this year.
Hindsight tells us that Salisbury race he ran in has worked out quite poorly, and he definitely showed more signs of encouragement on his third run at Pontefract. That effort earned him an opening mark of 74, and today will be a crucial test in terms of finding out how competitive he can be from that sort of rating. We are still feeling our way with him in terms of trip, ground and how he needs to be ridden, but we should learn an awful lot this afternoon one way or another.
Our second runner of the day is Foad in the very next race at 2.40, the six-furlong two-year-old maiden. This lad showed up well on his Leicester debut in May before running poorly at Nottingham second time up. That Nottingham race was quite strong, with the winner now rated 94, the second now rated 86 and with the fourth home a winner since. So we can perhaps excuse that run, and he has been given some time to develop since that appearance. Realistically he is probably a handicapping prospect for nurseries later on, but let us hope that we can see some encouraging signs this afternoon and a return to his best. David Allan will ride both of the La Grange runners this afternoon.
Best wishes,
Ed.