Back At Sunny Southwell

It's nice to have a couple of runners on the fibresand at Southwell, a surface which our horses tend to enjoy and the 465 mile round trip normally provides the yard with some prize money. Both Madame Kintyre and Blunos are having their first experience of the fibresand and while you can never be certain that they will handle the unique surface, especially the kickback, we are hopeful both can run well.

Madame Kintyre missed a very good opportunity at Bath when the weighing room flooded and this is the first race she has actually got in for over a month which has been extremely frustrating as she has been in good form on her most recent starts. Her dam Chorus loved the fibresand surface at Southwell and her half-sister Ishi ran up to her best when tried on the surface, so it should suit. It's a shame she is so wide in fourteen, although that is preferable to being stuck on the dead rail up the inside. A mark of 51 is still workable (has useful form in the 60s) and she should put up a good show and as long as she handles the fibresand, she should have a profitable winter on the surface.

Blunos shaped nicely on his third start at Windsor but has been very disappointing in two handicap outings at Wolverhampton. That surface has received a lot of criticism in recent weeks and rightly so, the mix of fibresand on top of polytrack is causing an inconsistent surface that a lot of horses don't seem to be handling. Hopefully that is the reason why he has run so badly the last twice but he has dropped to a mark of 50, this looks a very weak race and it will be disappointing if he isn't in the three.

We have been very quiet on the runners front recently but Galatian shaped much better when third on his most recent start. He has had a lot of issues with his feet but if his confidence builds, he is very well handicapped off 68 (last win off 72) and should do well this winter. Unfortunately, there are no opportunities at Kempton in the next few weeks, which is the AW track that will suit him best but hopefully there will be lots of races in the New Year.