After seemingly endless rain since we moved into new surroundings at Machell Place it’s hopefully something of a pointer to the season ahead that the sun is shining on the first day of turf season entries this morning!
We have a couple of nice, forward types who have been given entries in the Brocklesby – Atherstone Warrior (Coulsty) and Solvency (Ardad) – as well as being hopeful that Maysong will get into the Spring Mile off 2lbs higher than when he ran so well in it last year. The horses are in good form and with 13 winners on the board before the grass gets going we’d be hopeful of raising last season’s bar to a new level.
There are still races to be won on the all-weather beforehand, and we were delighted with Tasmanian Legend’s effort at Wolverhampton on Friday which means he’s now three from four since debuting for us in January. This was a real step up from his previous success over the same C&D last month as he saw off a different level of opposition, and he’s clearly one for us to be pretty excited about with the turf likely to be at least as suitable for him. He has the pedigree to be going up in trip at some point but does possess a pretty smart turn of foot at his level, something that’s been very beneficial in steadily-run all-weather handicaps.
It was a very different winning performance from the incredibly gutsy Smart Deal last Saturday as he somehow saw off a whole load of challengers to win for the second time at Chelmsford. He’d run a similar race over a furlong shorter on his previous run and he clearly enjoys the surroundings at the Essex track. He shouldn’t go up too much for this and should remain competitive.
