Opposition
It was very sad to hear the news that Alan Swinbank has passed away and I would like to pass on my condolences to his family. He was a good man and he knew how to train horses and most notably Collier Hill. Collier Hill started off by winning a Catterick bumper and he finished off by winning a Group 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin. He also won an Irish St Leger and a Canadian International and his flag bearer retired having earnt over £2.3m in prize money. Alan will be sorely missed by many people.
We had three runners on Monday night before Windsor was abandoned. Indian Warrior ran a fantastic race and was beaten by just over half a length in third. This was a good step forward from his first run and he looks like he will stay 6f. King Kevin and Sparte Quercus were unplaced in the Median Auction, Sparte Quercus ran well before being outpaced late home and may want further in the future whilst King Kevin is a slow learner and I hope he will be ok in time once he learns what the racing game is all about.
I run Opposition tonight in the 6:50 at Newmarket and he is a horse I have always liked. He stands above 17 hands and has a long stride and is a horse I have always thought would improve with age. He was progressive last year until he was too free over 2m at Royal Ascot and I struggled to get him back to himself after that run. We have been waiting for some juice as I did not want to jar him up on fast ground and the ground looks to be perfect tonight. A lot of my horses are benefiting from their first run back but I hope he is straight enough to run a good race. Captain Peacock is a horse with a lot of talent but he can be quirky and hung left at Kempton when just getting up on the stands side rail. It was a good performance to win there given the circumstances and he is the rightful favourite. Of his rivals Zamperini could be interesting at a big price given he is back to a fair mark and he has his ground whilst Hermann is lightly raced and he may improve on his Windsor run now he encounters softer ground.