On the way to the Al Bahathri
A muggy and damp morning here in Newmarket, we had two millimetres of rain overnight and there has been persistent light rain here during the morning. I am not sure there has been enough rain to change the going conditions at the Rowley Mile just yet but more rain is forecast. We worked some of the older horses on the Al Bahathri this morning and I was happy with how they went.
We only ended up having two runners yesterday due to the abandonment of Windsor. It is tough when you have an uncertain weather forecast and with heavy rain hitting the watered ground it became very slippery. Inniscastle Lad’s victory at Lingfield recently was a pleasant surprise as he is a very lazy horse at home. The blinkers worked again yesterday and he was very enthusiastic in the early stages and found plenty for pressure under Silvestre’s urgings to make it two wins in a row. Charioteer ran in the Median Auction maiden at Windsor and having been slowly away he never really got into the race, I hope to see more from him next time.
We only have the one runner today at Chepstow where Zauffaly contests the one mile Median Auction. The highest rated horse and likely favourite Skeaping has been withdrawn and he now looks to have a very good chance on the ratings. The soft ground is an unknown as he has only run on good to soft before but we have to take our chance. We were hoping for rain to take the sting out of the ground but more has fallen than we were hoping for. He is a consistent horse but has proven slightly frustrating and we hope he can break his maiden tag tonight.
The Derby still looks very open and the result of that is that a lot of horses are being considered as supplementary entries at a cost of £75,000. The idea of having a win and you are in system has been suggested and I can see the argument for this but at the same time it is not very traditional. The picture may become more clear after the Dante but if there is no clear cut winner at York then there will be a lot more money going into the prize fund. We still have Amazing Red in the race and we will make a decision on his participation later in the month.