Milestone reached with Hamilton success
Ajyad cruised to victory on her handicap debut at Hamilton to tick the winners tally over from the dreaded 99, and in the process looked a fine prospect for middle-distance handicaps herself.
Mohamed Saeed Al Shahi’s filly has been brought along steadily since her one run late in her juvenile season, and patience has been rewarded with her blossoming into a potentially quite useful type for the rest of the year. She’s taken after her Derby-winning sire Australia in wanting a mile-and-a-half, and she will ideally want much quicker ground than the good-to-soft underfoot at Hamilton. Hopefully she will be capable of being in the mix in some of the nice valuable mile-and-a-half fillies’ handicaps between now and the end of the season.
Royal Ascot came and went and there was a little disappointment in how Maximum Impact ran in the Windsor Castle, but it was a very new experience for him after much more low-key races at Leicester and in the small-field Trial at Ascot a month prior. He will have learned a huge amount from the experience and is more than talented enough to have his day in the future. In the same race we were delighted with the performance of Hala Emaraaty in finishing seventh, especially as he’s almost sure to improve over six furlongs. We’re going to let him take his chance in the Listed Dragon Stakes at Sandown this week as he’s in great form and the testing track should suit, but there will be more to come again when he faces that extra furlong.
Both Max and Hala Emaraaty had the Listed Rose Bowl as a potential next stop, though so too does new recruit Asadna. We are clearly delighted to get the chance to train such an eye-catching debut winner who clearly possesses a huge amount of ability, as well as his owner’s Cadillac who will be aimed at the John Smith’s Cup next weekend.
It was obviously a hugely proud moment for Alice to complete her first century in such rapid time, and it’s easy to pick out Mr Professor winning his Listed race at Pontefract, Lady Hollywood’s efforts in Ireland, France and America, and more recently Fix You’s classy effort at Cork as highlights. There’s also the rewards of freshening up and improving the likes of Maysong (winner of a valuable handicap at Sandown), Strong Power with his quick-fire treble in 2022, and more recently Goldsmith and Waleyfa, both of whom are unlikely to have finished their improvement yet.
Of course we have to thank all of the owners who have made this possible, as well as everyone who’s been part of the team at home. We look forward to kicking off the next hundred as soon as possible.
