We have beautiful sunshine here in Newmarket this morning but the temperatures are meant to drop to well below freezing over the weekend. With only eight days until the start of the turf season I hope this is the last of the cold weather. Cheltenham has been dominated by the Irish this week and more specifically by Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. Both have got their horses to peak at the right time and it has been an unbelievable week for both of them. It looks an incredibly competitive and open Gold Cup but I would side with Native River on the prevailing ground as he will stay well and he looked to retain all of his old ability on his comeback run.
King Kevin has been a star over the Winter and he has helped to keep the winners ticking along at a time when we do not run many of the horses. He has his quirks but it was fantastic to see him stick his neck out and really want to win on Wednesday evening and there is no reason to say he cannot win again in the near future.
Amazing Red is our only runner today at Lingfield in the 3:00. It looks a competitive race but Regicide is a deserved favourite as he was impressive when beating King Kevin at Lingfield a month ago. His record is best when fresh and he has been given time since that impressive win. Island Brave has done nothing but improve and is a recent course and distance winner whilst Koeman ran with promise on his return from a short break.
Snowy Winter has come up short the last twice but has been winning over the Winter and her stable continue to fire in winners. Shabbah might need to drop down the weights a little before he wins as he didn’t continue his progress when seen at the back end of last year but he did finish second at Goodwood behind a horse that relished conditions and he should win races this season. Fearsome is lightly raced but his winning run came to an end last time and Azari and Keep In Line are both on feasible marks but need to show more than they have recently. Our horse is likely to be fresh today as he is returning from a layoff and the majority of the field have a fitness advantage over him. He seems to have strengthened over the Winter and I hope he can run well but there should be further improvement to come in the future.