It was great to hit the first target of 50 winners for the calendar year last week with Asteverdi showing her true ability when winning comfortably at Nottingham.
Her form on slower ground is really progressive and she made pretty light work of a mark of 80 under Rossa Ryan, coming from last to assert well before the line whilst never really looking anything but the winner. The handicapper hasn’t gone overboard with a 3lb rise, and ourselves and her owners Roudee Racing can really look forward to her in these types of conditions as a four-year-old.
Another with plenty of scope to progress next year is John Hall’s Naana’s Sparkle after the Twilight Son colt broke his maiden at the third time of asking over the six furlongs at Chelmsford.
He’d faced some pretty stiff opposition on his second start at Yarmouth and was just too keen to do himself justice at that straight track, so the turning nature of Chelmsford was beneficial to him and he was able to get first run on the form horse and favourite Storm Free to hang on by half-a-length. The gelding operation has done him good, and he is the type to improve with racing as a three-year-old.
Completing the trio was the impressive Pop Star at Bath, the four-year-old relishing conditions and the in-between trip to score decisively under a positive ride.
Conditions had actually been an unknown heading into the race, so his now proven ability to handle soft ground opens up plenty of options for him next season. Unsurprisingly the handicapper has had his say, however, and a 10lb rise certainly doesn’t make things easy going forward – he’ll be put away for the spring now and with soft ground no issue he will be getting going at the start of the turf season.
