At last some direct success for Mark Dixon as his Territories 2yo Trio wins fairly convincingly at Leicester. Not a bad performance as she ran freely all the way round and cornered like a giraffe going round Tattenham Corner. She's the first foal of a full-sister to Talent and looks as if she can do a bit better than this, especially if she learns to settle and run round bends. There's no yearling but there's a Triple Time yearling half-sister and this year the mare, Sibling, visited Vadeni.
The Mark Dixon/Mount Coote bred Laurelin (by Zarak) attempts to win her first Grade 1 race at Keeneland this evening. She was sold as a yearling for €160,000 guineas and has won all her 5 previous races. She is fairly rare for a horse from this family in that she won as a 2yo (in fact twice). Some do, but the victory by Trio earlier this week is Dixon's first runner to win as a 2yo since Talent won a Kempton maiden in 2012. It isn't surprising. Apparently Dixon's uncle Dick Hollingsworth got very worried to receive a telephone call from his trainers before the end of August. He didn't expect his horses to run before late September. If Trio can improve as much as other family members often do she could win races as a 3yo/4yo, just like her relative Dreamloper (who didn't win her first race until the backend of her 3yo season). Mount Coote's owner reported that Bari, Laurelin's dam, will visit Zarak next year. It is to be hoped she gets in foal (missed '24 and '25) and even better if she produces a filly.
