Global Applause
Mrs D and myself stayed with Philip and Lucinda Freedman last night and had a fantastic time. It has stayed dry thus far at Ascot but the forecast does not look pleasant for later on with heavy showers and lightning predicted, I hope it does not arrive until after my two horses have run. Everything is well at La Grange and I am told there was a heavy burst of rain for a short period at HQ which will leave the ground on the easy side of good for racing tomorrow evening at Newmarket.
Sharaakah ran very well on her seasonal debut in the Sandringham yesterday. She was unlucky not to finish second and I think she will improve on this run which is encouraging for the rest of the season. Shafafya won well at Ripon last night and it was good to see her break her maiden as she has run some very good races this season when placed in competitive handicaps. I hope she can progress from this and the manner in which she saw her race out suggests she will. Archimento was placed yet again when second at Chelmsford and whilst it is very frustrating, the winner travelled and won well and she may be useful .
I am hoping Global Applause will handle the cut in the ground at Ascot today, he would appear to hold strong claims on his form with Mehmas. His draw would seem to be ideal in four but given there is only eleven runners the draw should not have a big impact on the race. Capricious Cantor runs in The Ribblesdale and Architecture sets a very high standard indeed, we don’t expect to beat her if she is on song. We do hope she will run well, as the Lingfield Oaks Trial was run at a crawl which did not suit her at all and she has come to herself in the last couple of weeks.
We have two runners away from Royal Ascot today. Zamjar runs in the first at Ripon and I think he will appreciate the turf and the slight ease in the ground there. He was unlucky last time and he could well have run into a nice horse. Most of the opposition are newcomers and the Mark Johnston horse must have a big reputation has he has opened up very short in the betting but I hope that Zamjar’s experience can count. Rock ‘N Red runs in the twelve furlong handicap at Lingfield, we tried dropping her in trip as she was becoming very keen but she does not have the turn of foot for shorter trips so we have upped her again to twelve furlongs back on the all-weather. I am hoping she has an each way chance.
Whilst the ground has been soft there has still be fantastic racing at Royal Ascot over the first two days. The American filly Lady Aurelia was very impressive in The Queen Mary and the time backed up the impression she made on the eye, to be able to go that fast early and quicken away from some good fillies was quite something. Clive Cox has been going very well lately and My Dream Boat turned the D’Ispahan form on its head with A Shin Hikari who failed to run his race when just denying Found in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, it was a good performance and Found has run very well too given she ran recently at Epsom.