A nice handful of runners at Ascot and Wetherby tomorrow, but I would like to let everyone know that we could actually end up having very few runners if the rain doesn’t materialise. There is rain forecast tonight, and hopefully it will arrive, but I am not going to risk any horses before I am 100% sure it is safe and enough give in the ground. Obviously Bhaloo likes good ground, so he definitely goes, but I will be monitoring the situation and speaking to the jockeys at Wetherby today to see what they think.
ASCOT
12:55
Akimos (Freddie Gordon)
He saw the trip out well at Ffos Las on his final run last season and will get further in time; but this looks like a good starting point and he’s pretty forward. I’m hopeful he can run well.
1:30
Don’t Tell Su (Nico de Boinville)
He’s a new recruit to us, but I like what I see, and while we’ve been unable to get him on the grass to school, he has jumped nicely on our carpet schooling strip and is ready to go. Much of his hurdles form suggests he likes soft ground, but he appears equally effective on good ground, and I’m happy with him.
2:35
Soomaroy (Nico de Boinville)
He comes from the Irish Point-to-Point field, where he won his only start very impressively in March before being sold at the Aintree sale for £190,000. He is a very sharp sort, with bags of pace, and is a fantastic jumper; hence, we’re going straight over hurdles rather than going down the Bumper route. He can only progress as life goes on, and it could be very exciting, but I would like to remind you all that just because he was seen in a video cantering behind Constitution Hill and Sir Gino, it does not mean he is anywhere near their standard! It just happened that he was the next in the string; he had 20 others behind him, so don’t read anything into it!
3:45
Bhaloo (Nico de Boinville)
He was kept busy during the summer, simply because he has to have good ground, so as soon as we get into the depths of winter, he’ll go back to his Jayne McGivern’s Dash Grange Stud where he’ll have a holiday before returning in the spring. He won the Novice Chase on this card last year, so we know he likes the track, and he’s been itching for three miles so we’ll stick down this route from now on
WETHERBY
2:22
Doddiethegreat (James Bowen)
He’s quite forward, and after galloping at Newbury on Monday morning, I took the decision to have a look at this race. It looks a very strong Grade Two race, but he isn’t a fan of jumping fences, so it will be hurdles here on in, and we already know he stays this trip well. I am, however, going to be keeping a very close eye on the ground, and if there is any mention of the word ‘firm’ in the description, he won’t run.
Newbury Gallops: Behind-closed-doors!
Miss the earlier post where we took a handful of stars up to Newbury for a behind-closed-doors workout? Fear not!
Check out the full video, here!
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