Hello from Newmarket! We have two runners today, one this afternoon at Yarmouth and another at Wolverhampton this evening.
Homesick Boy gets us underway in the 2.35 at Yarmouth, a competitive-looking mile and a quarter 0-70 handicap for three-year-olds. He was a promising fifth at Windsor on his racecourse debut last season, before disappointing us a little on his two subsequent starts. His Windsor run coincided with the softest surface he encountered, so I am a little worried about the possibility of quick ground this afternoon, whilst the likes of Andrew Balding’s Agent Basterfield, Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Love So Deep and Roger Varian’s Kingdom Of Dubai probably set a stiff standard.
That said, we hope that Homesick Boy can develop into a nice handicapper this year for the Old Etonian Racing Club who owns him, and I hope that his initial mark of 66 is not out of the question. We have been dismissed in the pre-race betting, probably quite rightly, and I do expect a lot of improvement for the outing, but hopefully we can see some encouragement nonetheless.
Later, in the 7.10 at Wolverhampton, a six-furlong 0-60 handicap for three-year-olds, Global Acclamation has his first start for six weeks. He was a winner over six-furlongs at Chelmsford in the winter, and has generally been running well since being gelded. A step up to seven-furlongs this evening leaves a little question mark, and he will improve a good deal for this first outing after his little break, but there is no reason to believe he shouldn’t be competitive.
Fingers crossed both of our horses can run well
Best wishes,
Ed.