The sun is breaking through here at La Grange but we have had an overcast morning up until now. We took a handful of horses over to the watered gallop this morning to put them through their paces before their potential engagements next week. I was happy with all of them and the ground was riding beautifully once more.
I was delighted with how both of the horses ran yesterday. Manjaam got back on track when winning the mile and a half handicap at Bath and he saw out the trip very well. Ryan said he hated the ground at Newbury and we know now that he definitely needs fast ground. Shafafya stayed on really well to finish third in the mile handicap at Haydock, it looked very competitive and she was only beaten half a length. We may well step her up in trip after she settled better this time and I really hope we can win with her soon.
The horse boxes have headed to Beverley and Chester for this afternoon’s racing with Shingwedzi and Oceanus onboard. Shingwedzi ran over a variety of trips in South Africa and I am still learning about her, she appeared not to stay at Chelmsford so we are dropping her back in trip to ten furlongs today, we have added the blinkers that she has worn before too. I am hoping for a better show but as I say it is still a learning process with this mare. Oceanus ran well at Newbury and the horse that finished directly behind him won with authority at Windsor on Monday, he is tough and although he is drawn six of the seven runners he has a decent chance.
The Sandy Lane looks like a good renewal at Haydock this afternoon and Gifted Master has really impressed me this season. He has the ability to set a good gallop and then be able to quicken again which is very rare. La Rioja looked very impressive last year but you would think this race is a starting point for her. Donjuan Triumphant's significant improvement at the back end of last year was on very soft ground but Buratino has very smart form on this ground and if he has trained on he will have a major say. Quiet Reflection has won both her Group 3’s with ease in the ground whilst Ajaya has won a Group 2 last season but it is his first start of the campaign. Gracious John is smart but he has nearly four lengths to find with Gifted Master on their Ascot form and Taneen is unexposed but needs to improve significantly.