Chances in big races

At York Polish heads to the Melrose, which is without fail one of the hottest races every year. This year is no different. Polish was quite harshly penalised for his Salisbury win and has been dropped only a pound since. Two things are in his favour today, one being the step up in trip and the other the flat and galloping nature of the track. Goodwood didn’t really suit in that sense and today should prove a better track for him

Blakeney Point gets to the race we have been waiting for all year, and its one worth targeting. The Ebor is a wonderful race and it would be great if he could run a stormer. His form all year has been solid. Twice he has run in stakes company and been beaten by some very solid G3 horses, and in the Old Newton Cup he missed the break, sat a long way last on a front runners track and flew down the home straight. Today he is back up in trip, where he started his success and has the blinkers on as opposed to the cheek pieces to just help him travel a little easier in to the race. He has a maestro on his back and he must have a great chance.

At Newmarket Atty Persse starts us off over 1m 6f. It’s a step up in trip and he has always finished his races strongly. There are a few pace angles in there and it will be intriguing how it is run. He has the most consistent form but there are a couple in here that can run freak races at times. Let’s hope that’s not today.

Projection has been his usual model of consistency all year and today he gets a step back in grade to tackle a listed race, but a very deep one at that. Dreamfield, Gifted Master and Limato are all very talented horses on their day. Projection has the cheek pieces today which we hope will just bring him home a little quicker. The race should set up well for him with Gifted Master usually making the pace.

At Windsor Catan makes his debut. He is a lovely horse who was bought by Kingwood Stud as a foal and brought up on the Kurt Systems in Lambourn. He takes his work well and should have a future. He is up against quite a smart field today and few of them have shown good course form already. Hopefully he can show some promise for the future.