Like Grundy. I hope I got away with thatSlipofthepen beside, it's been a bit dire so far so I suppose today is a big day for the Royal stables. Circle of Fire reappears in the Sandown Classic Trial with Moore now on board. Looks a tough race and Circle of Fire is 4th of 5th in the betting. He's inexperienced and from his 2 runs last year you'd say he seems to need a distance. Well he's getting that today. Going looks on the heavy side of soft and his sire, Almanzor, didn't seem to be inconvenienced by it.
Yesterday Slipofthepen had a gallop on the Rowley Mile and having been declared at the latest stage for the 2000G looks a possible runner. You can see his gallop on the tdn site. He looked well and enthusiastic, and came away from his lead horse well. It obviously wasn't a Nashwanesque type gallop (Nashwan did a gallop in late April 1989 and his price tumbled from 33-1 to 5-1 in hours) but he looked all right. He is a flashy chestnut, which some people will hold against him.
Meanwhile the drip drip of 2yo information continues. Gosden has been sent 3 nicely bred youngsters:
Crown Estate, a Dubawi colt out of a Group winning Sharmadal mare;
Rainbows Edge, a Night of Thunder filly who's a half-sister to Recorder (and Reminder);
and The King's General, a Dubawi colt who's a half-sister to the useful Perfect Alibi.
They look a nice trio of 2yos.
Balding has a further 2yo: the unnamed Galileo daughter of Set to Music. Lady Wulfrun didn't run badly at Windsor on Monday but surely needs further.
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Reports at the time of the race were that the Royal colt stood out in the paddock as having the best looks, size and scope for improvement. Hornby said after the race ''He'll be better over six, he's a laid-back horse and he needed to be kept interested but galloped out strongly once he figured out what to do. It was a case of keeping him racing and competitive and that's how he's been trained at home. He's a big strong and heavy colt and all there. He's shown a bit of class and this is a minimum trip for him, he's done that on raw ability''.Looks a nice colt![]()
Dire run by Slipofthepen. The excuse was given that he found the going too sticky. He does have a fine action but I thought this was a very poor performance.
Desert Hero still down to run Saturday. The Haggas/Marquand team seems to be be definitely hitting its stride. Also on Saturday Barrier (my tip for a big improver) seems to have knocked into a tough one in Sumo Sam. She does get 6lb from him.
On Sunday Marquand makes a visit to the City of Ripon to ride Market Value. This must be a good chance for her to start her winning career.
Monday sees two fillies, Gentle Light (Moore/Stoute) and Value Added (Buick/Hughes) entered in the same Windsor maiden. Hopefully it will be split and both will run. There are currently 40 entries, so if all stood their ground (unlikely I know) there'd be 3 divisions. But there'd be 3 divisions if 29 stood their ground as the most runners you can have at this Berkshire nightspot is 14. So hopefully it will divide into 2 races. Just shows what effect last Summer's firm ground and this Spring's bogs has had on 3yo maiden's chances to get a run in..
So some activity for a change. Let's hope it's good.