Latest news

Thursday 13th June

Thu 13 June 2019

Good morning from Newmarket. It was a real thrill to see Global Gift continue his development with a decisive victory at Haydock yesterday afternoon – let us hope that the horse has not reached the end of his development just yet. Today we head to Nottingham and Newbury with slightly lower expectations, but I am hoping for a productive day nonetheless.

The ground at Nottingham is officially heavy and will be testing - which has led to plenty of non-runners - but we are happy to take our chances and get underway with Maysong in the 1.40, a six-furlong two-year-old novice. It is not my usual practice to run a two-year-old again just five days after his racecourse debut, but on this occasion I am going to make an exception! Maysong missed the break very badly at Newmarket on the weekend, before running on encouragingly after the race was all over.

The key to this horse is that he wants an easy surface, and given that he came out of his recent debut bucking and squealing, I saw no harm in backing him up quickly whilst the ground is favourable. He has a good mind and is not a worrier, so hopefully he will take this race in his stride. We are of course in a very competitive heat, and realistically we are probably more of a nursery prospect for later in the season, but I hope that he will prove more clued up at the stalls this time and can run a respectable race.

Half an hour later Helian has his second start in the mile three-year-old plus novice, a race which has had two non-runners leaving only five to go to post. The standard set by Maydanny and Ocean Paradise is a very high one, but we are hoping to see an improved display from Helian. It goes without saying that he has been very backward, but there was a hint of promise on his Chelmsford debut last month. He broke well and travelled kindly, before getting tired late on. A well-bred son of Shamardal, it is difficult to predict how he will handle conditions, but time is pressing on with this horse, and hopefully we will learn plenty more about him this afternoon. Tom Queally rides both of our runners at Nottingham.

Moving over to Newbury, where the ground is also soft, we take our chance in the seven-furlong 0-70 handicap at 4.10 with Global Destination. A good-looking but disappointing horse, he was dropped three pounds by the handicapper for his latest sixth at Lingfield. That was his first outing since gelding and wind operations, and hopefully he will start to show the benefit of those little procedures today. It is anyone’s guess how he will cope with the conditions, as it is probably too early to gauge what Slade Powers truly want and Destination has never run on anything other than good to firm or the AW. He has the raw talent to be competitive, and let us hope he puts his best foot forward. Gerald Mosse rides.

All the best,
Ed.



< Back