12th June 2015
Sixrunners between England and Wales.
Royal Silk starts us off at Sandown, in a competitive looking fillies only handicap. There aren’t many fillies only races, which is the reason for this. She won well at Goodwood, has been given 3lbs for that, and appears to be fresh and well. Deep Blue Sea is an interesting runner with the cheek pieces on and the rest aren’t without chances.
Oriental Grace runs in the novice race at Chepstow, for lack of other options. The nurseries don’t start until July and therefore she has to run in a competitive race like this. She is very straight forward, and will run her race, it just depends if there are one or two better than her.
Heart Locket
Heart Locket has been off a long time with niggles since she made her debut at Salisbury last year. Sadly five Newmarket trainers have decided its worth the drive on a Friday and the cost to come all that way, and it is a competitive race. Hopefully she can get in a good rhythm and show some promise for the future.
Captain Marmalade
Captain Marmalade would be hoping for a little bit of rain, which is quite possible. He is in good form, and looks very well. He has a hood on for the first time, which will help contain his natural early speed. The Ed De Giles horse has very solid form, but I hope Captain can run him close.
Scooner
At Goodwood, Scooner starts us off in a valuable 1m 2f race. He was given a mark of 83 for winning at Wolverhampton, which seemed a little harsh, and is running of 82 today. He is due to run off 81 from next week, having been dropped again on Tuesday. The race at Wolverhampton has worked out ok, but he very much had the run of the race, which may not be the case today. I think he has mentally improved since the race, and the undulations will be something knew for him to cope with having only run on flat tracks in the past. Laurence is an improving horse, who will appreciate the distance.
Master Zephyr
Master Zephyr travelled very well last time, and was run out of it in the end by an improving Hannon horse, in Belgrade. We have made a tack adjustment and I hope we can get an improved performance out of him, in what is a tougher race than he has contested.
The ground was a little quick for McCreery and Champagne Ceri yesterday, but both ran nice races.