It has been a frustrating few days with plenty of my rides going very close or being slightly unlucky. Onassis, the filly who I won on at Royal Ascot and subsequently in a listed race in Chantilly in France, ran a stormer at Doncaster. Frustratingly, she was drawn right on the far side in 1 and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all drawn on the standside rail (in 13,10 and 12 respectively) which meant that I had to do a lot of my racing on my own. As we saw at Royal Ascot and at Chantilly, she loves travelling through horses and we were unable to do that at Doncaster as nothing could take her into the race. I feel sure that she will win a Group 3 at some stage, however!
Friday: Salisbury
3:25 – Prey For Glory
I ride Prey For Glory over 1 mile for James Ferguson here. He was incredibly green over 7 furlongs at Lingfield and was outpaced over what is a very sharp track. He learned a huge amount that day and showed some real signs of ability late on in the race. He has come on a huge amount since then and will be much sharper here. The mile at Salisbury is a bit stiffer and that will play to his strengths. He’d be my best chance of a winner this weekend.
6:05 – Lady Alexandria
Lady Alexandria is a filly that has been off the track for a while. She will probably need this run to bring her on again. She could improve for the switch to turf, but she might be seen best further down the road.
6:35 – Cleonte
Although he has been off the track for nearly a year (since British Champions Day), he has some fantastic form in the book! He won the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot last year before finishing 2nd behind Stradivarius in the Doncaster Cup exactly a year ago. He will likely come on a bit for this seasonal reapparance but it doesn’t look the deepest race and we probably have the best form in the book so is hard to rule out.
Saturday: Chester
1:30 – Harmony Lil
I ride one here for Tom Dascombe who is a trainer that does very well at Chester. Harmony Lil has been given a mark of 73 which looks workable. We have a tough draw to contend with despite there being only six runners. The bend comes very quickly over 6 furlongs so we will likely lose some ground to our five rivals. She’s in the mix, however!
In the St Leger At Doncaster, I’d love to see Subjectivist go well – the owners have been incredibly good to me over the years and it would be amazing if they were to win a Classic!