Good morning from Newmarket! Before I get into discussing our runners at Chelmsford and Lingfield today, I would just like to reflect on the extraordinary events at Cheltenham yesterday afternoon.
Paisley Park’s success was a particular joy, as his owner Andrew Gemmell is one of our own here at La Grange, having shares in various horses and owning our four-year-old Dagueneau outright. There could be nobody more deserving of this success than Andrew, who is a joy to deal with, and it has been a thrill to see his incredible story capture the imagination recently. Add to this Bryony Frost’s spectacular victory in the Ryanair and it was a rather good day for NH racing all told!
I was fortunate enough to be at Cheltenham on Tuesday and Wednesday, enjoying the sport (and the cooking, see below!) and it really whets the appetite for the flat turf season, which is just around the corner now of course.
Before that, however, there is still business to be done on the AW. Our first runner today is Maqaadeer in the three-year-old novice at 3.00 at Lingfield. He ran twice last year, finishing in the midfield in Newmarket maidens, but both turned out to be extremely warm contests. He ran into the subsequent Listed winner Al Hilalee on debut and the Listed winner and Dewhurst fourth Sangarius second time up. As a son of Mukhardam out a mare that didn’t win until four, we hope that he will continue to improve as he gets older, and he has done particularly well physically over the winter.
We are up against a couple of potentially useful newcomers, who the market is speaking favourably for, and there are one or two others who have shown definite promise in there too. However, this looks an ideal starting point for Maqaadeer’s season and, whilst he will unquestionably improve for the run from a fitness point of view, he ought to not be too far away. Ben Curtis is in the saddle.
Our second runner today is Gottardo in the 5.20 at Chelmsford, a six-furlong amateur riders’ handicap. He was sourced from Ireland last year, where he won over five-furlongs and was rated as high as 80, and he will hopefully give our amateur rider Sophie Smith some vital experience in sprint handicaps this year, from an opening mark of 69.
Sophie did very well last season, partnering two winners from just seven rides, but riding Gottardo will be a new experience entirely. He is typically slowly away and there should be plenty of pace on from the start, so the inside draw could lead to some traffic problems at some stage of the race. Hopefully they can bide their time and come with a late effort, albeit that is not always easy to do at Chelmsford. A stuffy horse that has needed some work, Gottardo has come forward of late, but there is no doubt he will benefit from the outing nonetheless.
All the best,
Ed.