Toro Dorado, who makes his debut this evening
Hello from Newmarket. Yesterday saw mixed results, with a couple of our horses running very disappointingly, but encouragingly the two-year-olds Global Warning and Venedegar showed up very well, giving rise to a little hope for their futures.
Today I have three runners, all in the evening, which is surely a blessing given the current weather. At Chepstow in the 7.20 Global Spirit runs in a four runner 0-70 seven-furlong handicap. This horse has been frustrating, running well without winning towards the end of his two-year-old campaign, and then moving up the ratings despite not troubling the judge earlier this year. His last three efforts have seen him drop by five pounds to a rating of 65, although he has run ok in fairness. We still aren’t entirely sure what trip he wants, but this stiff seven at Chepstow might prove ideal. It’s a four runner race and they all have a chance – hopefully Luke Morris can extract the best from Global Spirit and he might not be far away, though winning has proved difficult for him so far.
Closer to home at Newmarket, the Toronado colt Toro Dorado gets his career underway in the six furlong novice at 6.10. He is out of a Nayef mare that won over a mile and a half, from a very useful Shadwell family. This is a warm enough starting point, and clearly his future is likely to be over at least a mile – though of course we don’t know too much about the sire just yet. Dan Muscutt has ridden him in work so knows the horse and I just hope that the horse can behave himself and enjoy his first day at school.
In the 8.40 at HQ Mudallel takes his chance in a seven-furlong 0-85 under James Doyle. We also looked at the mile 0-90 race for him, but on the balance of entries felt that this race represented a better opportunity of being competitive. Mudallel won twice in good style at Kempton last year, and started the season rated 84. He has yet to show anything like his best in three outings though, finishing well back at Kempton, last at Haydock and in the midfield at Ayr recently. He had excuses due to being hampered at Ayr, and there was just a hint of spark about his run. We are now down to a mark of 80, and if they go a decent pace he ought to be staying on strongly. Another horse that has proved frustrating of late, let’s hope that we see another step in the right direction this evening.
All the best,
Ed.