Crystal Dome
It is a beautiful Autumnal day here at HQ and after some rain over the weekend the ground at the Rowley Mile is good ahead of the penultimate meeting of the season on Wednesday. We plan to run two horses there and we will have a few runners over the rest of the week but we are slowly letting horses down and giving them their Winter breaks. I will keep a handful of horses on the go over the Winter but the majority of the two year olds will be put away with next year in mind.
Scrutinise was our only runner on Saturday in the 1m4f handicap at Wolverhampton and he ran a solid race in fourth, he will now head to the Sales next week and he should prove popular with the Jumps Trainers.
Crystal Dome And Vivre Pour Vivre have gone up to Pontefract today and I hope both can run well. Crystal Dome is bred to appreciate the easy ground but he has not tried it yet, he ran well on his latest start but he had no luck in running and the winner was very well treated on his Nursery debut. He has shaped as though a stiff mile will not prove a problem and whilst it is a competitive race he appears to have a solid chance. Vivre Pour Vivre was too keen last time over 1m6f and so we are dropping him back down to 1m2f, he will appreciate the soft ground but he will have to settle. If he can relax in the early stages of the race he has a decent each way chance as we know he possesses plenty of ability.
What a fantastic day of racing on Saturday it was and Almanzor’s smooth victory in the Champion Stakes cemented his position as the best three year old we have seen in Europe this season. Minding has been so tough and consistent this season and she showed no signs of a long year taking its toll when beating the high class Ribchester in the QEII. It was a special day for my neighbour James Fanshawe as The Tin Man won the Champions Sprint and Speedy Boarding ran another great race when second to Journey in the Champions Fillies and Mares. Sheikhzayedroad has been extremely consistent all year and arguably ran a career best at seven when winning the Long Distance Cup.