Marwa
It was extremely sad to hear the news that Walter Swinburn had passed away earlier this week. It is a great skill to be a horseman but it is very rare indeed for someone to be a horseman as stylish as Walter. He very rarely got it wrong on the big stage and it is amazing to think he was just nineteen when he rode Shergar to victory in the Derby back in 1981. Lammtara was a horse I knew well having been Assistant to Alex Scott when he was a two year old and the ‘choirboy’ gave him an ice cool ride when he won the Derby in 1995. He rode for me on many occasions and he was a very good judge, always helpful and he often had a sparkle in his eye. He has left us far too early in life and will be sorely missed.
We have continued to educate the yearlings and they are progressing nicely. I will give them a short break once January arrives. It has been a quiet week so far but we are likely to have four runners during the rest of this week.
Marwa is our only runner today in the 12:45 at Lingfield. It looks a competitive contest and it will be tough from stall eight but I expect her to show more than when she disappointed back in July at Newmarket. Ettu ran well at Newmarket when second and whilst that form has not been tested she is rightly a short priced favourite. Mitigate showed plenty of promise on debut and she hails from a stable whose horses nearly always improve from first to second start. Vivian Ward is also to be respected given she hails from the John Gosden stable and Sayem ran with encouragement on her debut. Our filly has been given a break and will improve on this given she has been off for five months but I do hope she can perform with credit.