Good morning from Newmarket. We had a quiet time of things on the racing front last week, but are back in full swing today with a pair of runners before sending three to Beverley tomorrow.
Our first contender today is Sir Gnet, who steps back up to a mile and a half in the 0-70 Wolverhampton handicap at 4.00. This horse took a long time to break his maiden, but has really learned to settle and finish his races in recent months. That led to a breakthrough victory at Lingfield in March over 10-furlongs, and leads me to believe that he might now be suited by a mile and a half.
We previously ran him over this far in 2017 at Newcastle and Wolverhampton, and on both occasions he raced prominently and didn’t appear to quite get home. Now that he settles so well and we ride him more patiently, the longer trip should hopefully be within his compass and might just enable him to find a little extra improvement. He clearly needs to from his mark of 64 of course, but hopefully he should not be far away from threatening the places under Danny Tudhope.
Later on, in the 0-70 Windsor mile handicap at 7.20, Arctic Spirit has her second start of the season. She was a tough and consistent performer last year at two, and was perhaps a little unfortunate not to get her head in front. She resumed with a slightly disappointing fifth at Wolverhampton, but now looks ready for a step up in trip. As a daughter of Intello, a mile on good ground should hold no fears, and hopefully it will allow her to find that little bit of improvement that is required. She has not grown too much over the winter and is probably not brilliantly handicapped on a mark of 68, but she has a fine attitude and hopefully this new trip can prove the making of her. Rab Havlin rides her for the first time this evening.
Best wishes,
Ed.