Red Verdon
Beautiful blue skies here in Newmarket this morning and hardly a breath of wind. The horses are all well and some of them are extremely fresh. I am heading off to France soon and it is very exciting to have a Group One runner with a chance of winning this evening. We are getting the Eurostar and will arrive in Paris around lunchtime before heading to Saint Cloud later in the afternoon. The race meeting is aimed at the younger generation this evening and is advertised as a garden party with a lot of electronic music following racing, it will be something different.
Red Verdon has been drawn in stall five of the eight runners in The Grand Prix De Paris (18:35 BST) which should not be a hindrance and the recent rain should not inconvenience him although I had hoped to see him run on good ground. Mekhtaal’s stand out performance was on good ground so the rain may inconvenience him more than the rest of the field. You cannot discount an Aiden trained horse at the moment and Beacon Rock ran well at Royal Ascot and will handle this ground, the only surprise is that he only runs one horse in the race with Shogun a non-runner. Talismanic was fourth in The Prix Du Jockey Club and previously beat Spring Master on heavy ground at Listed level. Cloth Of Stars won twice at Group level before disappointing in The Derby when well fancied, Maniaco is the dark horse who is well thought of at home. The outsider Mont Ormel is no back number given he won his listed race well last time and through Dicton he does not have a lot to find with Talismanic. We believe Red Verdon can improve again from The Curragh and he has been extremely consistent this season, he seems to thrive on his racing and seemed excited when the travelling boots went on him on Tuesday, I just hope he runs his race and that there are no excuses win, lose or draw.
We have two runners in the Midlands later as Global Revival and On The Bill go to Leicester. Global Revival has run well at the track before and I believe that the step up in trip will see him in a better light. He has been gelded since his last run and I am hoping that will be the making of him. The favourite won with something in hand last time and it’s a tricky race which you would expect at this stage of the campaign. On The Bill has only just got a mark after his Kempton win and so we have had to be very patient with him. The form of his Kempton run has a solid look about it but given the small size of the field here it’s a competitive race with an unexposed type Miss Carbonia in the field. The second from her debut win has been beaten since and it was on soft ground but she was impressive. Aleko was a good third behind two promising sorts before disappointing last time and if he bounces back to form he will be dangerous. Melendez seemed to get found out in handicap company last time and Hot Mustard has just failed to hit the frame whilst Rock Palm needs to improve.
Today is the start of the Open at Royal Troon and it’s one of the finest sporting events of the year, Colin Montgomerie makes his final appearance at his home course. Despite his failings he was always fantastic in the Ryder Cup and like him or loathe him he was a character who was extremely talented and very unlucky to never win a major. Anything can happen in golf as Tom Watson nearly proved in recent times.