Sagely
A beautiful sunny day here in Newmarket. It was good to get a double yesterday with Opposition winning at Newmarket and Sagaciously winning in the evening at Doncaster. Opposition was going away from his two opponents at the end but he would have preferred a stronger end to end gallop. This was a step up from Doncaster despite the small field and I hope he can progress from here when we next see him. Sagaciously dropped back in trip to ten furlongs and I was delighted with the way she travelled and put the race to bed when asked, we will look for black type for her now at this trip.
Global Applause was beaten by a very good horse yesterday at Newbury. The winner has clearly improved significantly from his Chester win but Ryan did feel that our horse was a little flat and was not in the same form as Newmarket so it may have come too soon for him. We will freshen him up and then make plans as to where we will head with him next, it was disappointing to come second but I still think we have a very nice colt. Vivre Pour Vivre was extremely coltish in the preliminaries and then pulled far too hard during the London Gold Cup, he is better than what he showed. The winner Imperial Aviator was very impressive and the form of the Leicester maiden he won is working out very well indeed.
Sagely runs at Ripon in the 4:45 later on today, she has progressed from race to race but the step up in trip once more is an unknown. I hope she can run well and she looks to have a chance if she does improve for the extra distance but we will learn more later on today.
Belardo gained his second Group One win when winning the Lockinge and rewarded his connections for keeping him in training at four. He is a very good horse when he has a decent pace to aim at combined with some juice in the ground. James Doyle was very canny when winning the Carnarvon stakes on Log Out Island and the progressive We Are Ninety improved significantly for a step up in trip to win the Fillies’ Trial. The form of the last race she was beaten in received a boost when Oh This Is Us won well at Newmarket on Friday but this was a big jump forward from her third at Chelmsford.
Deauville is holding the French 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas today due to the renovation of Longchamp but the ground is looking like it will be good, it can sometimes get very soft there. Alice Springs, Besharah and Nathra are the three foreign raiders in the 1,000 Guineas. Alice Springs ran a solid race behind Minding when third in our Guineas and she has set the benchmark. Qemah ran a fine race behind Ballydoyle in the Marcel Boussac last season when third and was impressive on her comeback in a Group 3 win on soft ground. The other horse at the front of the betting Come Alive is very unexposed having remained unbeaten in two runs but both were on soft ground. It is a race we will learn a lot from but with many other unexposed fillies in the race it is hard to make assumptions on which filly will win.
There are three unbeaten colts in the 2,000 Guineas with Zarak and Zelzal representing France and Crazy Horse heading over from Clarehaven. Birchwood also heads over after his third in the Guineas as well as First Selection. Coolmore are represented by The Gurkha. The conditions will be an unknown for some of them as Zarak has only won on soft ground whilst Zelzal has won both of his races on the all-weather. It should be a fantastic day's racing.