Sporting Times
After some oppressive heat over the past few days, it was a relief for everyone in the yard (both equine and human) to see slightly cooler temperatures this morning! Things look to be warming up as the day progresses, however, so it is a relief that our two runners today are at Kempton in the evening, when the cooler temperatures should benefit.
On Saturday it was very exciting to see Red Verdon finish runner-up in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. The winner Crystal Ocean looks very good, but we beat some high-class sorts like Idaho and Cliffs of Moher. The handicapper has seen fit to push Verdon up by four pounds to a new rating of 113, which will hopefully help further down the line in terms of getting into races such as the Melbourne Cup. He is having a few easy days whilst we make a plan for the second half of the year.
In the 7.10 at Kempton Teenage Gal runs in a 7F 3yo+ 0-70 handicap. She was a promising second on her final outing as a two-year-old at Salisbury and performed with credit on her comeback this year at Newmarket. However, she disappointed on her most recent outing at Goodwood, only beating one horse home. There were possible excuses, notably the drop to six-furlongs and the soft ground, but she needs to bounce back to form to be competitive today. Unfortunately, her draw in stall 14 looks set to make life difficult. Fran Berry rides.
An hour later we saddle Sporting Times in a 0-85 over a mile and three furlongs. Now four, he has always displayed some promise, finishing second at big odds on his only run at two and winning a maiden last year. He has previous placed form at Kempton, and had a wind procedure over the winter which will hopefully enable him to find some further improvement at some point. He disappointed somewhat in a warm handicap at Newmarket on his only run so far this season, but he is better than that. Today’s race looks tough, but hopefully we will see some encouragement from Sporting Times, who will be ridden by Dan Muscutt.
All the best,
Ed.