Good morning from Newmarket, where the weather is officially miserable!
We have been on weather watch all morning actually, and will be up until the first race. That is because both of our runners at HQ, Amazing Red and Maysong, would appreciate nice, safe ground, and our participation could be in doubt unless this rain has got into the ground.
However, with rain now falling, let us assume that we are going to run and consider our chances. Amazing Red has been enjoying a fine season and deserves to get his head in front sooner or later. He actually won this race a year ago, albeit from a nine pounds lower mark, and his last run at Goodwood when a narrow third was right up to scratch. We are not particularly well drawn in stall 14, and the ongoing issue with this horse is that he remains at the wrong end of the handicap which always makes life tough. However, we know this course and distance suits, and he is reunited with James Doyle who has won on him previously. This is a tough race but I am hoping for a respectable performance.
Our second Newmarket runner, Maysong, is a son of Mayson out of an In The Wings mare. He would ideally like to get his toe in, and is sure to benefit from the experience, but he is ready to go now and this is a nice and convenient opportunity to get him started. Fingers crossed he enjoys the experience and can run well, although I would caution that by saying it looks a potentially very hot race.
Switching our attention to Chelmsford, we run another two-year-old newcomer, Boston Girl, in the 1.55. This filly was only relatively recently purchased at the Guineas Breeze-Ups, and she will be the first runner in the colours of her lovely owners Paul and Nikki Turner. This seven-furlong fillies maiden auction looks a stiff enough ask of her on debut, but she is an easy filly to deal with who was almost ready for a run the moment she walked into the yard. Despite being by Zebedee she might want a little further in time, but we need to get her career underway and this seems a logical starting point. Rab Havlin takes the mount.
Our second Chelmsford runner is Red Secret in the 5.25, a backward three-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid who runs in the mile and a quarter maiden. He has taken an awful long time to come to hand, and will be in dire need of the experience today. However, the clock is ticking with him and he has been going well enough at home of late to suggest he is ready for a racecourse. Expectations are not overly high in terms of getting competitive first time out, but he is a long-term project that must get started as we look to map out a plan of campaign for him further down the line. Brett Doyle rides.
Probably our best chance of a winner today comes in the 2.35 at Beverley, where Shawaaheq takes his chance in the seven and a half-furlong median auction maiden. Although he disappointed on racecourse debut last year, his two runs since – either side of a gelding operation – were highly promising. His latest second at Leicester reads particularly well in the context of this race, and he was badly hampered late on too. A reproduction of that effort ought to see him go very close today, so we keep everything crossed that he remains in the same sort of form. Ed Greatrex will be in the saddle.
All the best,
Ed.