Red Master
It is a dry and breezy day here in Newmarket. Royal Ascot is now only just over a week away and the forecast looks to be very dry, so I would expect very different conditions to those that the horses encountered last year. We will have a handful of runners at the Royal meeting and we will be putting the finishing touches to them this week.
Amlad really impressed me when he won the 1m4f three year old only handicap at Newmarket on Saturday. He settled well in front and kept lengthening all the way to the line, he still appeared to have something in reserve and I hope he can be competitive once he is re-assessed. Amazing Red was disappointing in the 1m6f handicap, I hoped he would keep galloping resolutely once he hit the front but he weakened quite quickly. He was a little keen early on in the race which would not have helped him stay but we will have to drop him back to 1m4f and hope we can find an easier surface for him. Global Wealth ran well in the second division of the 6f Novice and I would hope he will come on for this run. We will more than likely step him up in trip to 7f as he was doing his best work at the finish. Munaashid ran much better than on debut for us in the 1m2f handicap when finishing sixth and we may well drop him back to a mile next time. Sagely travelled very well up at Beverley in the 10f fillies’ handicap but failed to get home in the very testing ground and we will look for better ground for her next time.
Sileel ran very well when second at Goodwood yesterday. The visor had a positive impact on her and she saw out the 10f well. She is a well bred filly and we should be able to find a Maiden for her over 10f or 12f. Alemaratalyoum settled much better yesterday on the drop back to 7f and ran well when second in the finale at Goodwood. We may look for a stiff 7f for him as he saw the 7f out very well and ran into a horse that delivered on the potential he had shown on debut. Michael's Mount disappointed in the 2m handicap but he failed to stay and we will drop him back in trip when he next runs.
We have four runners today spread evenly at Brighton and Windsor. Our first runner is Al Nafoorah in the 2:45 at Brighton, she has been second on her last three runs frustratingly. She tries very hard and has just met one too good on all of her last three starts. She can be a little keen early in her races but she has been finishing well and I hope it is a case of fourth time lucky in 2017. This will be the fastest surface she has encountered and whilst that is not perfect I think she will handle it. Hamster Jam looks to be the most dangerous opponent and she may have got in a couple of pounds lightly but she did not move forwards from second to third start when fifth in a solid Haydock Maiden. Nastenka drops in class having contested two decent fillies’ handicaps and should fare better here and Ashazuri ran well when third in a trappy race at Windsor. Whiteley looks exposed but she does have a good claimer taking off five pounds and Moonstone Rock has been struggling of late. It looks easier than her last race at Nottingham but it is still a competitive little race.
King Kevin runs in the 10f handicap at 3:15. He wears a visor for the first time as he has been very lazy at home and on the racetrack and we felt he needed sharpening up. They do appear to have had a positive effect at home but it is very much a case of watch and see today on the racecourse. It looks a very trappy low grade contest with many of the field having the potential to improve and I hope he can run well without expecting him to.
Mudallel drops back in trip to 6f this evening at Windsor in the 6:30. We think that 7f could prove to be his optimum trip but he was far too keen on his last start at Doncaster and so we wanted to drop him to 6f here and get him to run his race the right way around. He showed plenty of promise on debut at Newmarket last year and he has enough talent to figure here despite the 6f trip. Cobalty Isle ran well when second on debut but the third was rated 57 heading into the race having had seven starts so he does need to step up on that run which is very possible. Think Fashion has been rated as high as 85 after finishing 9th in the Fred Darling but she had dropped to 78 having been beaten twice. The move back up to 6f here makes sense but she is starting to look disappointing. Pride Of Angels was not far behind Think Fashion last time whilst Dark Magic is well bred and any support for him would be interesting on debut.
Red Master is our final runner in the last at 9:00. He is a horse who can be very lazy and so we have put some blinkers on him this evening. He showed a little promise at Chelmsford last time and I would expect more from him now he is running in a handicap for the first time. He is no superstar but it is a 0-60 that looks to lack depth on the bare form. Deleyll and Av A Word have both won races and although it was a weak race, Deleyll pulled a long way clear of the third when beating Malt Teaser by half a length. Beyond Beyond and Our Kim are two that have only had three runs over shorter trips and both could improve significantly on what they have shown so far with Beyond Beyond especially likely to enjoy 12f given his breeding