A bitterly cold and frosty morning has given way to another warm and pleasant afternoon.
He is back! Red Cadeaux returned safely to La Grange shortly before 8am and we are delighted to have him home following his ten-week stint in Australia and Hong Kong. Robin appears pleased to be back as well, and Cads will be given plenty of time to reacclimatise to the British springtime before we start thinking about the next plan.
Three groups ventured to the Al Bahathri first lot on what was a quieter work morning. Patrick Cooper, racing manager to Mrs Patino, dropped in before the sales, as did my brother, Harry, whose horses have been running well of late.
Malcolm and Maxine Franklin were here second lot to watch Trip To Paris at exercise. He is now rated 99 following wins at Lingfield and Ripon and we are looking forward to having a crack at the Chester Cup next week. The replays of those two victories were played on the office T.V. for the umpteenth time and a number of fancy targets were being banded around with child-like enthusiasm, although we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves just yet!
No runners today while we did not declare anything for Sunday either. We did make three entries for Chester next Friday, with God Willing and Taqneen possibilities for the 1m2f handicaps that bookend the card and Red Galileo having been given the option of the Huxley.
Finally, we have a busy weekend in store with plenty of owners set to drop in and Newmarket race-goers are sure to enjoy an excellent days racing on both Saturday and Sunday. We might not have unearthed a diamond in the Classic crop yet, but there is plenty of time for that to change – let’s hope we have a superstar in our midst come Monday morning!
Back tomorrow. Ed.