We were delighted with the performance of the No Nay Never colt Big Cyril in the Listed Rose Bowl at Newbury last week and he looks a lovely, progressive type at this stage of his career.
He’s always gone with a considerable amount of class at home and we’ve been pleased with how he’s transferred that to the track up to now. He’s a long-striding horse with stamina on his dam side, and he will be even better ridden positively over six or just in general over seven in time. We would hope finishing a close-up third in a Listed race is only scratching the surface of his ability and as such he will get some nice entries in Group races in the autumn. It’s a racing cliche, but he will be even better next year.
We were also very pleased to have a rare juvenile debut winner this season as Wattani got the job done at the first time of asking up at Ayr. He’s another to have shown both ability and class in his home work and he did everything the right way at the first time of asking, coming home nicely between horses to win a little cosily. He won’t be seen again until next year but rates a nice prospect when he does return, especially as our young horses have come on plenty for their initial experience.
Ziggy’s Ariel completes a trio of nice two-year-old prospects as she won despite the race not going smoothly for her up at Hamilton. The winning margin of a nose didn’t really reflect her superiority as her rider dropped his whip some way out, so we would hope she’d be improving plenty on the bare form of this run. The fillies’ conditions race at Glorious Goodwood will be an option for her now and we’d hope to be seeing a lot more of her at higher levels in time.
She would be one of a handful of intended runners at Goodwood, along with another Middleham Park-owned filly Ziggy’s Dream (likely for the G3 Oak Tree), Cairo in the new conditions race for older horses, Listed-placed juvenile Kuwaitya, and impressive Sandown handicap winner Asteverdi.
