Amazing Red
It has been a mainly dry but cold week here in Newmarket and we could do with more than the 5mm of rain we had during the middle of the week. I was able to do some easy pieces of work with some horses on the Limekilns but we need more rain in order for me to be able to use them next week. The weather is looking like it will get slightly warmer thankfully and it looks like being a beautiful day on the opening day of the Guineas meeting.
We ran five horses on Wednesday and it was a disappointing day. The Lacemaker ran well when third on seasonal debut at Lingfield and it looked a strong race on paper so I hope we can find a race where she will be competitive next time. Michael’s Mount was not suited by the slow early pace and the ground was faster than ideal at Epsom and Arnarson and Oud Metha Bridge both failed to handle the track. Dutch Uncle ran respectably in The City And Suburban and finished sixth.
We have five runners at Wolverhampton this evening as the ground was too fast for a lot of them on the turf. Kafoo is our first runner in the 6:50 and he attempts 10f for the first time. Ben Robinson takes 7lb off of him as he is an Apprentice ride and recently rode a double at Nottingham. He should be suited by the surface but he has not run in a long time and I am hoping for a respectable run to give us something to build on for the future. Red Master runs in the next at 7:20 and he has drawn stall ten which is a very difficult draw for a horse making his debut. He will benefit from this experience and there are three of four horses with solid form in the book.
Amazing Red runs in the 7:50 as the ground was too fast for him at Newbury last Saturday and I withdrew him from the 10f handicap there. He shapes as though 12f will be his optimal trip but given he has not run for so long I fully expect him to improve for today’s seasonal debut. His main danger could well be Gibbs Hill who has also been off for a long time but the form of his Sandown win has been franked since and he is strong in the market. Every Chance and Marmajuke Bay both have solid recent runs under their belts on the all-weather by they are more exposed than the Varian horse. Ravens Quest needs to bounce back to form and Tara River heads here after a poor run over hurdles whilst White Nile may need further.
Colourful Career and Sir Gnet both run in the 1m Maiden at 8:50 and it looks like a strong race for the track although it does not have a lot of depth within the race. Manchego was second behind a highly regarded horse at Newmarket and could be a horse to follow this season and there is a lot of strength behind Dayking who hails from the in form Godolphin team and he is a son of Dubawi. Falak showed very little on debut but he is well bred and could leave that run behind him. The rest of the opponents have not shown much yet and Nazzaa is a well bred son of Shamardal who changed hands for 600 guineas last year.
Sir Gnet is a son of Galileo who is bred to get further in time and he is drawn wide in stall 8. Like the majority of my horses he will improve for the run and we have put a hood on him to help him relax but I hope he can run a solid race. Colourful Career is well drawn in stall two and he is bred to appreciate this surface. He is a lovely big son of More Than Ready who will also improve for the run and I hope he too can run a promising race without expecting him to beat the front two in the market.