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Tuesday 25th June

Tue 25 June 2019

Good morning from Newmarket. The weather has been atrocious here overnight and this morning, although I must not complain as in yesterday’s blog I was practically doing a rain dance!

We have three runners today, Global Art at Beverley in the 3.30, and Inspirational and Global Destination at Brighton, and it is fair to say that all of them will have appreciated a little easing of the ground.

Global Art takes his chance in a mile and a quarter 0-80 handicap, and the race is notable for being his first outing on turf for the best part of a year. In the intervening period he has demonstrated himself to be a useful AW performer, winning at Chelmsford and Wolverhampton, and proving his versatility by competing at various different trips.

Despite his effectiveness on the AW, I have been anxious to get him back on turf for some time now, and he remains unexposed on grass after just five runs. He did not appear to handle really quick ground a couple of times last season, so the rain they have experienced at Beverley is in our favour. The track is something of an unknown, as he is used to going around the very conventional AW circuits, but he ran well at Ripon last year which gives me some hope. His mark remains a little high so we have enlisted the very useful five pound claim of Dylan Hogan to try and offset the burden of top weight, and I am hoping that he will run very well.

At 4.15 Inspirational has her first go in handicap company in the mile 0-55 and she needs to improve. She is a Slade Power (like Global Destination) and they seem to appreciate a little cut in the ground, whilst they appear to be staying further than their pedigrees might suggest is likely. Unraced at two, this filly got started by running down the field in the Wood Ditton, before not doing much better at both Nottingham and Goodwood in two subsequent runs. It is important to stress that the bare form she has achieved is very moderate (hence her rating of 52), but on every occasion she has travelled into her race as though there is some ability lurking.

So we step into handicap company this afternoon, from a very lowly mark and hoping for better. She is bred to be a useful performer, and I am just hoping that she can improve on what she has shown so far. She clearly has to find bundles on what she has achieved in her three starts to date, but we live in hope that she can do a little better. What she does today will tell us plenty more about her I am sure.

The third and final La Grange runner today is Global Destination in the seven-furlong 0-70 handicap at 4.45. This horse was threatening to become a little disappointing, before a wind operation and gelding operation helped him to find some improvement. The culmination of this progress was a determined victory at Newbury a fortnight ago, where he had to show battling qualities on soft ground and I was delighted with his attitude.

We are fortunate that we are racing on a similar surface this afternoon, although how he will respond to the unique configuration of the Brighton track remains to be seen. He is also now racing from a five pound higher mark than at Newbury, so a step-up is required. Amy Murphy’s promising Just Later looks a major danger amongst the competitive six runner field, but we hope that there is a little more to come from Destination and that he won’t be far away once again. Gerald Mosse rides.

Fingers crossed for a productive day.

 

All the best,
Ed.
 



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