Blog

We’re fully on the stretch this weekend. All hands to the pumps. Chester first with Morph Speed in the Chester Cup. He has been prepared for this from a fair way back and the hope all along was he would get in to it in the weights proper. He has, he is fit, looks well and moving to his chin and it’ll be interesting to see. I ran him over a mile the last day as he could have a good blast out and a nice piece of work. I was fully expecting him to be outpaced when things heated up at half way and he was. I thought he’d rattle home thereafter and I’m not sure he did. His jockey was happy, he has been happy since, just have to trust him I suppose. He needs to settle and find the right tempo to the race and he needs to find that after 300 yards. If he sleeps and can rouse himself for the last half mile then hopefully he can be competitive. I think he can step up to this, I just hope he’s not one of those that needs to build through the summer. We’ll see. Bonnyrigg runs in Cork and has been drawn 1. I think his 2 runs this year have been OK. He was forward enough in an unbelievably hot handicap the last day and it told late on. This is a lesser race and Dan can put him where he wants him quietly. I’d like to see him run well. He seems in good form. Evenwood Sonofagun has his first run for us tomorrow. He was bought as a simple horse that could win a race over hurdles, on the flat and he has the size to go chasing as a 4 year old. When I saw him I thought we could knock a few kilos off him and it might bring about a bit of improvement. That hasn’t happened. He carries a lot of weight for a NH horse and it might be just his way but it might be that a few runs are required. His exercise has been excellent and if he looked a bit trimmer I’d fancy him. Looks can be deceiving, I hope. Uncharted has left for Hamilton on Sunday to compete in one of The SkyBet Sunday Series races. I haven’t seen the race in detail but it’s a great pot for the grade and it’s another exciting adventure. She ran well in Navan and a bit of improvement from that would help. We could be in Spain come Tuesday!