6th May 2015

A winner on Monday to help ease the pain of 3 seconds in races worth winning on Sunday!

Oriental Grace was our first two year old runner of the season at Bath and she duly obliged. She is a sweet natured filly who does everything that is asked of her and I hope that she can progress from this and win another. Her owner raced her sire (Strategic Prince) and bred her dam (Asian Lady), so it must have been very satisfying.

Quest for More was less lucky for the same owner when he ran a blinder to be second in a valuable handicap over 1m 4f on Sunday. He went to post a bit free and did so again in the race. When headed 4f out I thought he may drop away but he rallied valiantly to be 2nd,only just beaten. He is a consistent horse who doesn't hide much from the handicapper, and we will probably wait for Royal Ascot and run him in the Duke of Edinburgh. Ideally he probably needs further than 1m 4f but bizarrely Ascot only has a 2m 6f conditions race and a 2m 4f handicap, on top of the Gold Cup. I believe they should have a 2m handicap for older horses.

Huntsmans Close was even unluckier on Sunday when he was beat in a head bobber in to second. He was ahead before the line and after, which was very frustrating. We were delighted by the way he performed and it was a definite step forward on last year. We will probably wait for the Wokingham now, as he will go up a couple of pounds for Sunday, which will get him in to the race.

Al Kazeem ran his usual valiant race on Sunday in the Prix Ganay. Sadly, as per usual in France, they walked for a mile and then quickened the last 2 and a half furlongs. Al Kazeem's best runs have been when they go solid 36mph fractions the whole was round and then he stays on from that. Cirrus Des AIgles had it all his own way but won well. There is no disgrace in being beaten by him in his own back yard, where he rarely gets beat. Timeform suggests that Cirrus ran to the same mark as he did when he beat Treve this time last year and we improved on our running in the Prix d'Harcourt. I think he will improve again for the race as he still holds condition and his winter coat, and we will look at all the suitable races. 

Attached is a video of some of the horses that might run at Newbury next weekend, working around our valley/derby gallop. We don't use it much but it is a wonderful gallop and the horses learn a lot.