Walking home.
Rain all evening in Deauville and a grey day in prospect, but I’m told the sun is now shining in Newmarket.
Not quite the day we hoped for yesterday but there were excuses for a few, and I was particularly pleased with Tartoor at Newcastle, who was just outgunned by a more experienced rival. He looks capable of landing a similar contest.
We are down to four runners this afternoon as we did not want to run Clarentine on very soft ground at Ripon.
Alqubbah kicks things off in the six furlong maiden at Newbury. She was green on debut up here last month and she ought to prove much more streetwise with that experience under her belt. This looks a good maiden on paper, but then again she bumped into Lumiere on debut, and it would be frightening to think another one of her calibre lurks in this field!
Red Cadeaux lines up in the Geoffrey Freer for the third year in succession and it’s great to get the old boy back to the track. The ground was much too quick at Ascot but it will be far more to his liking today and this race works well in terms of timing to Melbourne. Only six line up but it looks a good-quality renewal.
Sharaakah makes her third start in the valuable fillies’ nursery on the July Course and this is another race with plenty of depth. It was an average race she won here last time, but she did it quite stylishly, and 80 seems an ok point from which to start. The more the ground dries out the better for her.
Lastly, Mulhaam runs in the six furlong maiden at Doncaster. He shaped nicely on his return at Chepstow and the drop back in trip shouldn’t be a problem. This looks a very poor race on paper.
Two declarations for Monday with Rock Lobster bound for Chelmsford and Queensbury Odyssey heading for Kempton. Jim Crowley will ride the former and Pat Cosgrave the latter.
A number of entries for Friday including two in the Lonsdale Cup. Trip To Paris will bid to avenge his Glorious Goodwood defeat, while Times Up will have another crack at Pattern success.
Have a super weekend!
Back Monday.
Ed.