Good morning from Newmarket! We have a busy day ahead of us here at La Grange stables, with two runners at Doncaster and two at Yarmouth. We also head to the Curragh tomorrow with Global Giant in the Gr.3 International Stakes, which is very exciting, but let’s get through today’s runners first!
Proceedings get underway for us with Boston Girl in the 2.30 at Yarmouth, a six-furlong novice median auction for two-year-olds. Our filly’s owners Paul and Nikki Turner will be on course to watch her run for the first time. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable day out, as the filly took a nice step forward from her debut to her second run and I am hoping for more of the same. We are unlikely to be good enough to trouble the form horses at the head of the market, but this filly is a nursery prospect for later in the year and it is important that we continue her education. Fingers crossed she can improve again and be competitive.
Our second Yarmouth runner is Homesick Boy, who is on something of a retrieval mission in the 3.40, a mile and a quarter 0-60 three-year-old handicap. He showed promise at this track and Beverley early in the season, but his form has tailed off dramatically in a couple of runs at Salisbury and Brighton. The ground was a possible excuse at Salisbury, and he clearly didn’t take to the unusual configuration of Brighton last time out. His mark has dropped to 58 from a high of 66 as a result, he appears to continue in good form, and this is the right sort of level of race for him. However, after his deplorable recent efforts it is difficult to predict what he might achieve today and we can only hope for the best. Rab Havlin rides both of our runners at Yarmouth.
Moving northwards, we have a pair of runners at Doncaster to discuss. In the 3.50, a mile 0-95 handicap for three-year-olds, Global Gift bids for a hat-trick of victories after his recent successes at Carlisle and Haydock. This horse began his life in handicaps from a mark of 75, which clearly underestimated his talents, but he is now 10 pounds higher and in stiffer company. Both of his victories have been achieved on soft ground, and we will have to put up with a much sounder surface today.
That isn’t to say that he won’t handle it - rather we know he handles difficult conditions and it probably slows everyone else down.
This is a warm contest, with Fox Leicester and Archaeology representing excellent handicapping form, whilst our other three rivals are all talented and promising types. So we have to step up to win today, of that there is no doubt, but we hope that a rating of 85 is not the limit of this horse’s ability level and it will be disappointing if he cannot be competitive. Gerald Mosse continues his association with the horse.
Our final runner of the day is Caen Na Coille, who has her third outing in the mile and a quarter fillies novice stakes at 4.25. She is any price you like, on account of there being some very promising sorts in opposition, but our filly is quietly progressive. She was third at Wolverhampton on her debut in February, and made a bit of late progress when fifth at Sandown on her latest appearance just under a fortnight ago. She comes from a lovely family and will hopefully make up into a useful handicapping prospect in the future, and I am looking to see a nice progressive step forward again today. Jason Watson will take the mount.
All the best,
Ed.