Red Cadeaux and Steve on the front page of the Winning Post.
A heavy downpour during first lot but a warm and pleasant afternoon now.
Hannah was at her hospitable best as we hosted a Discover Newmarket-organised “Frankel Tour” mid-morning, while we are expecting Angus Gold and Kate Whitehouse to see Sheikh Hamdan’s horses at evening stables.
It’s a big day for our Australia-bound trio as Red Cadeaux, Trip To Paris and Manndawi will leave quarantine this afternoon before boarding their flight from Heathrow this evening. They will, of course, be accompanied by Robin and Steve, while it will be a maiden Melbourne voyage for Darkie. All has gone smoothly so far and we will keep you updated on their progress when they touch down on Saturday.
The welcome parties are already beginning on the other side of the world with the Red Cadeaux and Steve proudly occupying the latest edition of the Winning Post! “They crushed us in the cricket and towelled us in the tennis” goes the opening sentence, so we keep everything crossed that “they caned us in the Cup” is the strapline in six weeks’ time.
It looks like the European challenge is going to be particularly strong this year after Aidan O’Brien announced that Order Of St George, Bondi Beach and Kingfisher are to enter quarantine. Although their presence would make life more difficult for us, it would certainly add plenty to the spectacle of the race.
Scrutinise showed what a tough and genuine customer he is when battling to victory at Goodwood yesterday. He continues to go from strength to strength in both his homework and racecourse performance, and his love of soft ground will hopefully yield more success this autumn.
Three runners today. Field Of Light lines up in the Newmarket Challenge Whip and given the strong connection to the Jockey Club amongst his owners we made this the plan a little while ago. We didn’t expect to be carrying such a featherweight courtesy of David Lanigan’s Plutocracy, who has obviously been competing in a much higher grade than us, but our horse is admirably consistent and won’t mind the ground.
Blushes was a little disappointing at Chepstow, but she saw too much daylight on ground she found a little firm, so we drop her back to six furlongs in the maiden auction at Chelmsford. As would be expected, this isn’t the greatest race on paper and she holds fair claims from a handy draw.
Lastly, Tartoor lines up in the mile and a quarter maiden and he posted a career best at Salisbury two weeks ago. This is a deeper contest, but most of the other market principals are drawn quite wide, so hopefully we can make tactical use of stall four.
Finally, it will be good to have Ryan Moore back on the racecourse this afternoon following his spell on the sidelines with a neck injury. He will no doubt be firing in winners left, right and centre very shortly and I hope his return is a smooth one.
Ed.