Alfahad
Another beautiful warm day here at HQ and to think it was not that long ago when we were hit with persistent rain and frosty mornings. A lot of courses are now employing their sprinklers and the Clerk of the Courses are now worrying about their ground getting too firm rather than wandering if the ground will dry enough for racing to proceed. Lingfield is a very good example of how quickly conditions can change with the ground unraceable just last weekend, the parts of the turf course that will be used on Saturday have been drying quickly and could well be good to firm come tomorrow. The horses are enjoying the sunshine and they seem to be thriving at the moment, we are slowly starting to make some more two year old entries.
I was delighted with Dark Red at Chester yesterday and he is a different horse this year, he travelled very well under a fantastic ride from Silvestre De Sousa and he continues to look progressive. I must thank the whole team at La Grange, we have had two winners at the Guineas meeting from our two runners and two winners at Chester’s May meeting from our two runners and it is down to everyone’s hard work. My name is on the door but without the whole team working hard to ensure the horses stay fit and healthy the recent results we have achieved would not be possible. Mr Arculli has been a big supporter of mine and I am overjoyed that his horses are in such fine fettle. He has now had six winners with us in 2016, Charlie Gordon-Watson has done a very good job buying Mr Arculli horses that are going to progress with time and we now have some progressive horses to have fun with this year.
We have two runners today as Al Hamd does not run in the last at Ascot tonight. Alfahad is a lovely big horse by New Approach and he will appreciate stepping up in trip in time. It looks a very competitive maiden and I am looking for him to show us some promise tonight without expecting him to be winning. Cliff Face runs in the maiden that follows and she got bumped exiting the stalls last time, she is still very much learning and I expect her to do better with time.
US Army Ranger travelled like a good horse yesterday but did not pull away from his stablemate like everyone expected him to, there was a lot of controversy over the riding of the second but he did lug left when hit with the stick. Minding will still have to be considered for the Derby at this stage one would think. Cannock Chase was given a good ride by Ryan Moore to win the Huxley Stakes but given he was giving weight away it was a big performance by the son of Lemon Drop Kid who also sired our progressive Wednesday winner Red Verdon.