Friday
This weekend we start on Friday by sending Water Music (15:15) up to York. So far she’s just not been quite as quick a learner as I’d expected she’d be. She was too green to do herself any justice on debut and then she was still working things out on her next start. I hope we’ll see a bit of a step forward this time round. There are some fillies with good form in there, but it’s a really good pot, and I want to support York when they put on prize money like this. We have a nice draw, bang in the middle, so if we could just get a bit of cover and travel into the race, I’d hope she’d run quite a nice race.
Then it’s back down south to Ascot with Mustazeed (16:35). He’s done really well for the team but is just looking for his first win this season. He’s trained nicely and we’re hoping this race will provide him with the strong pace to run at that he so enjoys. We’re down in class here, with a decent draw, so I would hope he’d be able to make his presence felt. The track might not be perfect for him, as I do think he likes a long straight to wind up into, but I still hope he can be there in the shake-up.
Saturday
Ziggy (16:07) kicks off Saturday for us down at Ascot, and obviously we were thrilled with his run at the track during the Royal Meeting. That effort came on much, much quicker ground, and we won’t run him here if it’s any softer than good-to-soft. He put in a nice run on good-to-soft at the Derby meeting at Epsom, so we’re happy to go on that, but anything softer and we’d probably wait for another day. He’s done well since the Duke of Edinburgh, and whether he takes his chance on Saturday or not, I think he’s got a big run in him soon.
Then it’s up to York with Duke Of Verona (16:50). We haven’t managed to get him to win yet, but his last run was quite encouraging at Sandown. He’s trained nicely since and I hope the ground will continue to dry for him on the Knavesmire, as that’s really what he wants. Again, like Mustazeed, he probably needs things to fall right for him, but we’ve got Richard Kingscote on board, who’s got a great record riding for me, so hopefully we can be lucky.
Our final runner of the weekend is General Assembly (18.35) up at Chester. It’s his first run for us since joining from George Boughey and is interesting because he has some very good form. He was only beat three-quarters of a length by Kind Of Blue, who went on to run a cracker in the Commonwealth Cup. He’s a good-looking horse who’s settled well into the yard, and there’s a chance he’s well-handicapped here. We’re hoping he can handle the track well as he likes to race prominently, which often is the best way to race around Chester, so roll on Saturday.
July Cup
I think it’s one of the stronger July Cups for a while, with the three-year-old’s taking on the proven older horses. Inisherin was very impressive in the Commonwealth Cup, but that was with a few missing the race, and it’s going to be fascinating to see the rematch between him and Vandeek. The vibes from the Crisford yard are very strong about him, so make of that what you will! The ground is going to play a factor here, I’d say. Newmarket dries very quickly and if we got no more rain, I think Regional could be a player. His run behind Asfoora at Royal Ascot was smart and I can see him outrunning his odds over this relatively sharp six furlongs.
Best of luck,
Harry