Grazing in the paddock.
Not overly warm and pretty overcast.
A hefty work morning with 15 heading to the Al Bahathri first lot and nine venturing to the same part of town second lot. Richard Hills was in to partner Qeyaadah and all went well.
We had to withdraw Pyla from yesterday’s handicap at Wetherby due to the ground easing considerably throughout racing. It’s always frustrating to travel and not run, but we didn’t want to risk her on soft and we have given her an alternative engagement at Beverley on Monday.
One runner this evening with Field Of Light heading to Lingfield for the mile and a half handicap. We’re stepping him up from a mile, but he shapes like he will stay, and he has bumped into subsequent winners the last twice. Stall 11 isn’t ideal but this looks the right sort of race and Jim Crowley rode him on debut at Windsor.
One declaration for Thursday with Kitten’s Red off to Chepstow for the mile and a quarter handicap.
Finally, I was slightly surprised to receive a call from a Racing Post journalist this morning asking me to comment on Amazing Maria’s success in the Falmouth Stakes last week for a feature on David O’Meara’s ability to rejuvenate horses from other yards.
Without wanting to sound distasteful, because I think O’Meara is a fantastic trainer who has risen through the ranks at a remarkable rate, I do want to clarify one part of the Amazing Maria story.
She obviously had a disappointing three-year-old career, but she was plagued with a virus for much of last year, and we ran multiple tests on her after her poor effort in the Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster.
The results of these tests showed she was suffering from an inaudible wind problem and we subsequently gave her a wind operation. She then returned to her owner’s stud farm and never came back.
So while David has clearly done a brilliant job with her, her wind has been a little overlooked in all of this.
And being asked to comment on losing a horse that went on to win a Group 1 is a bit like asking the car boot dealer of the following Andy Warhol sketch if he thought three quid was a little cheap when he read this news story: http://www.itv.com/news/2012-04-02/devon-man-picks-up-1-3-million-early-andy-warhol-sketch-at-car-boot-sale/
Back tomorrow.
Ed