Tadleel disappointed us on his debut at Newbury when we expected him to run well in the 6f Novice there in the middle of May. The ground was very soft there however and the race appeared to take a lot out of him. He returned to Newmarket for a 7f Novice refreshed after a six week break since that Newbury run and we were hopeful he would show his true colours.
The son of Dark Angel was the only runner in the field with previous experience and he put it to good use when he secured a prominent position in the early stages of the races. Our colt hit the front approaching the final furlong and started to lengthen as the field quickened towards the finish line. Dukhan appeared to be travelling menacingly in behind our horse but once the gap appeared he was unable to get to Tadleel as our colt gamely responded to Jim Crowley’s urgings. There was half a length back to Dukhan at the line with Jack Regan a further length back in third.
It was fantastic to get our first two year-old winner of 2017 as we have hit the crossbar a lot recently and we hope Tadleel can be the first of many two year-old winners in the coming weeks. He will now have to carry a penalty in a Novice as the rules have changed in regard to Nurseries and he will have to run three times before he is allotted a mark.
Congratulations to Tadleel’s owner Sheikh Hamdan who has been a big supporter of Ed Dunlop Racing and we are very appreciative of this. I hope we can provide you with further success throughout this season. We are starting to gain some momentum and let’s hope July can be more productive than a fruitful June. Well done to everyone at La Grange.