Good morning from Newmarket. It is a beautiful day here, and naturally everyone is keeping a close eye on the weather ahead of the Guineas meeting, though it seems unlikely that we will get much rain between now and the weekend. We have a couple of possible runners on Saturday, though there is plenty to keep us occupied in the meantime, including a runner apiece at Ascot and Pontefract today.
Our first runner today is Global Express who takes his chance in the mile and a quarter novice at 3.00 at Pontefract. He was a promising third on his only two-year-old outing at Salisbury last year, before disappointing bitterly on his recent comeback at Ripon.
A mile and a half on a track with ridges in the straight might serve as a valid excuse, though he was beaten so far and so early that we might be clutching at straws. We are on a retrieval mission today, and will struggle to beat the William Haggas trained Desert Icon, but I just want to see a little more encouragement than on his latest run. He will be qualified for handicaps after today’s run, and it should help to inform us where we go in future. Paul Mulrennan takes the mount.
Our second runner is good old Amazing Red in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot at 3.25. He had his first outing in Listed company at the age of six last time out, and ran a tremendous race to finish second in the Further Flight Stakes. He now gets his first attempt in Gr.3 company, so life isn’t going to get any easier!
However, we need to find out once and for all if he is a legitimate runner in the Cup races, or if we should be going back down in trip and grade. The likelihood is that we are not good enough to get involved, but the horse seems to be better than ever this year, has formed an excellent partnership with P J McDonald, and might just be better equipped for two miles now than he was previously. We intend to replicate our Nottingham tactics, and see if we can’t pass one or two in the straight. I am acutely aware that we are the rank outsider and forecast to finish last, but hopefully he will give a good account, and he seems to be in good form at home.
Best wishes,
Ed.