Opposition
We had a disappointing day yesterday and the house got flooded too, luckily Debby was alert to the situation and managed to clear up the flood water before we returned. Nearly 20mm fell in around an hour at La Grange but the racecourse only seems to have been hit with 8mm, so the ground is not as soft as I was fearing it would be. Some of the horses who had a busy early campaign are having an easy time at the moment and so it will be a quieter couple of weeks going forward than it has been. The horses all still look very well and seem happy and healthy and I hope that some more of the two year olds will be ready to run soon.
Global Applause did not pick up entering the final furlong as I hoped he would and it was disappointing, we will try him on faster ground next time and I hope it was the ground that beat him. Prince of Lir looks very smart and like Ardad the winner of the Windsor Castle Stakes he is both a son of Kodiac and a Doncaster Breeze Up purchase. Capricious Cantor had a wide draw and so we dropped her in but The Ribblesdale was run five seconds slower than the concluding King George V Handicap and she had very little chance given the way the race was run, she will be seen to better effect when there is a strong gallop.
Zamjar went to Ripon and was second to a Mark Johnston newcomer, it was disappointing but given how strong the winner was in the market we may well have bumped into a nice horse. Rock ‘N Red shaped with much more encouragement over 1m4f on the all-weather yesterday evening at Lingfield, they went no gallop which did suit her and she was keen as a consequence but she still finished her race off very well.
We just have the one runner today as the soft ground has meant Oasis Fantasy will be saved for the future and Scrutinise did not get into the Duke Of Edinburgh. Opposition runs in the Queen’s Vase, he is a lovely big scopey son of Dalakhani and his progeny normally handle cut in the ground. I do hope he can run a big race as he has the ability to do so and has been very progressive. Given how tacky the ground was yesterday however it could be a very stamina sapping race and given he has more strengthening to do it might just be too much for him at this stage of his career.