Good morning from Newmarket. An early start today as the first of our two runners at Lingfield is Global Art, who goes in the 11.40.
A winner from a mark of 71 earlier in the year, Global Art has found himself rather marooned from a rating in the high 70s of late, though he has run with credit on occasion. His most recent performance at Chelmsford was way below par however, but it did earn him a slight ratings reprieve. Although that one pound drop to 77 might not seem much, it does allow us to enter him at 0-75 level, which is much more his sort of company. That is exactly what we have done today; however we are actually stepping him up in trip by a whopping four furlongs.
That may seem a bold move, particularly as a speedily bred son of Dutch Art, but there is method in the madness! He has proven his stamina over ten-furlongs previously, and the more we run him the more he looks like he needs further. P J McDonald rode him last time and suggested this move up to a mile and a half, and we felt that if it was worth trying, Lingfield was the track to do it. This is a furiously competitive heat, and given our pedigree and form over a mile, the trip remains a massive question mark. But nothing ventured nothing gained, let us see how we get on! The biggest negative is that we have the widest draw of all, which compromises our chances significantly. Shane Kelly rides.
Interestingly, our other runner is going in the exact opposite direction in trip. Baasha, who runs in the 3.40, has been tried at as far as a mile and a half, yet today steps back to a mile for the first time since his two-year-old days. On this occasion we are reverting to type, for even though he has run with credit over middle distances, his pedigree is all about shorter. We didn’t think he stayed over 12-furlongs in truth, and even over a mile and a quarter he has been travelling well and just looking a bit trip-less at the finish. He is slowly dropping down to a more reasonable mark, and in this hands and heels apprentice race we have secured the services of the talented and in-form Mark Crehan. We probably need them to go a decent clip, and we have got another terrible draw, but hopefully he can run with credit.
We have a couple of small each way chances today – no more than that – but the draw has probably scuppered our chances in both races! I hope not but it makes life difficult.
All the best,
Ed.