Amlad
Another beautiful morning here at HQ and we have been pulling out earlier than normal this week to try and get the horses exercised before it gets too hot. I worked a couple of horses on the watered gallop this morning and I was happy with how they went. We could potentially have a runner on most days of the Goodwood Festival next week and looking at the forecast, after some rain on Friday it will then be dry.
It has been a quiet week so far, Chestnut Storm was third at Beverley on Monday and ran her usual honest race, she was one paced in the final stages and may have been second but for getting hampered. Dora’s Field was disappointing at Windsor but she was free in the early stages of the race and the ground may have been too fast for her. Ripper Street ran with promise when fifth at Chelmsford last night and he finished off his race well, he will have learnt from that experience.
We only have the one runner this evening at Sandown in the 7f Maiden contest. Amlad made his debut at The July Course and he was green on his first start, he will come on for that run but he is very much a work in progress and there look to be numerous well-bred newcomers from powerful stables as well as some horses with some solid placed form on offer.
I was playing cricket on Sunday afternoon but I kept an eye on The Open and it was one of the great sporting duals in modern times. To pull as far clear of the field as Stenson and Mickelson did was phenomenal, especially given the amount of talent that was in the field. You would never have imagined that Stenson had never won a major before the way he played in the final round and his finishing burst was incredible. Phil Mickelson was a formidable opponent and to shoot a 65 was something but Stenson’s 63 was something special.