We have our first runner in France for nearly five years as stable star Master Carpenter goes for a Group 3 in Chantilly on Monday (14.50GMT). There are eight runners and Christophe Soumillion takes the ride in a nine furlong contest. He is the only English raider and it is hard to equate what Master Carpenter's form is worth against his rivals but he comes out third top on official ratings. Favourite is Bodhi who has won his last four starts, including over course and distance and even with his 3lb penalty, looks the one to beat. However, Master Carpenter's confidence can only be boosted by that facile success at Sandown and with the rain-softened ground (why he has gone to France) in his favour, we are hopeful of a place at least.
We also have two 'home' runners at Southwell and Windsor. Masai Moon is back on his beloved fibresand and despite the fact that his last four wins have been at six furlongs, we still feel he is best at seven furlongs as he gets badly outpaced. He has a bit to find on official ratings but he is nearly always in the three at Southwell so should not be too far away. Ivor's Princess is not the most consistent but has won twice in the last six months, once over seven furlongs and then twelve furlongs at Bath. Whatever the trip, she is reliant on a strong pace, which she should get in a thirteen runner field and if on a going day, she should not be too far away.
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Monday, 30 June 2014
Double, Second And A Lucky Escape At Salisbury
It was a successful day at Salisbury for the yard in general, although the highlight of the day was the fact that Sophie Killoran was ok after a horror fall when the saddle slipped on Dylan Centenary in the apprentice handicap. He was disputing the lead at the time and would not have been far away. With both horse and jockey ok, hopefully they can gain compensation soon.
At £58,000 Marcano is the most expensive horse the yard has bought and it looks like he could be one of our best as he won the maiden in convincing style on his second start. Having made a very promising debut in a hot contest at Newbury, a slight cough meant he missed his next intended start at Leicester and a tilt at Royal Ascot. However, it could be a blessing in disguise as it meant he was not rushed and could be stepped up to seven furlongs. The ground was plenty quick enough yesterday, but he was very professional, smartly into stride to make the running and then quickened away inside the final furlong to win by two and a quarter lengths. Targets for the future are fluid but the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket's July meeting, a race we finished runner-up with Roi De Vitesse in 2009, could be an option.
We still ended up winning the finale, as Eugenic finally fulfilled some of the promise shown at home by getting off the mark under Jordan Vaughan. We are still unsure of his trip, as he wandered about inside the final furlong but found more when joined by the runner-up. Off a mark of just 50, he is at the right end of the handicap to progress and we will try to run him without a penalty in the next twelve days.
Icebuster didn't really stay fourteen furlongs in the staying handicap, having every chance at the one pole before fading behind Sunny Future. It was still a solid effort but he needs more help from the handicapper as he doesn't seem quite as good as last season.
At £58,000 Marcano is the most expensive horse the yard has bought and it looks like he could be one of our best as he won the maiden in convincing style on his second start. Having made a very promising debut in a hot contest at Newbury, a slight cough meant he missed his next intended start at Leicester and a tilt at Royal Ascot. However, it could be a blessing in disguise as it meant he was not rushed and could be stepped up to seven furlongs. The ground was plenty quick enough yesterday, but he was very professional, smartly into stride to make the running and then quickened away inside the final furlong to win by two and a quarter lengths. Targets for the future are fluid but the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket's July meeting, a race we finished runner-up with Roi De Vitesse in 2009, could be an option.
We still ended up winning the finale, as Eugenic finally fulfilled some of the promise shown at home by getting off the mark under Jordan Vaughan. We are still unsure of his trip, as he wandered about inside the final furlong but found more when joined by the runner-up. Off a mark of just 50, he is at the right end of the handicap to progress and we will try to run him without a penalty in the next twelve days.
Icebuster didn't really stay fourteen furlongs in the staying handicap, having every chance at the one pole before fading behind Sunny Future. It was still a solid effort but he needs more help from the handicapper as he doesn't seem quite as good as last season.
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Busy Sunday
Four runners for the yard at Salisbury on Sunday and hopefully the 10mm of rain Salisbury received yesterday afternoon has eased the ground slightly, as none of the runners will want it rattling fast.
We are looking forward to Marcano returning to the track, having run such a promising race at Newbury on his debut. The form of that contest has worked out well, with the first, second and fourth all running creditably at Royal Ascot. As most of our two-year-olds improve plenty for their first outing, we are hopeful of a big run. His pedigree suggests that the step up to seven furlongs will be ideal. Obviously the Richard Hannon trained Misterioso, a £130,000 yearling purchase, could be anything, the chosen mount of Richard Hughes from three stable runners and is very strong in the market this morning.
Icebuster has been a little disappointing in recent months, sometimes blowing the race with very slow starts. However, it was a step back in the right direction when second over twelve furlongs at Salisbury two weeks ago. George Baker felt that the ground was plenty quick enough for him on that day but it was not a bad effort and with six withdrawals already leaving just five runners, it is likely he will take his chance. Although 1m6f is a bit of a question mark, the fact there is a flag start will be a bonus and in an open contest he has every chance.
We have two runners in the finale, a hands and heels contest. Dylan Centenary ran well when fourth in a similar race under Sophie Killoran, who was having her first ride on that occasion. This race looks even weaker and Dylan is an uncomplicated horse so should not be too far away once again. Eugenic has been disappointing as he works nicely at home but has not really reproduced it on the track so far, failing to build on a promising fourth at Chepstow. The main issue is whether he will stay a mile as his pedigree suggests he is a sprinter but has lacked speed on recent starts. It would be great if either of them were off the mark!
We are looking forward to Marcano returning to the track, having run such a promising race at Newbury on his debut. The form of that contest has worked out well, with the first, second and fourth all running creditably at Royal Ascot. As most of our two-year-olds improve plenty for their first outing, we are hopeful of a big run. His pedigree suggests that the step up to seven furlongs will be ideal. Obviously the Richard Hannon trained Misterioso, a £130,000 yearling purchase, could be anything, the chosen mount of Richard Hughes from three stable runners and is very strong in the market this morning.
Icebuster has been a little disappointing in recent months, sometimes blowing the race with very slow starts. However, it was a step back in the right direction when second over twelve furlongs at Salisbury two weeks ago. George Baker felt that the ground was plenty quick enough for him on that day but it was not a bad effort and with six withdrawals already leaving just five runners, it is likely he will take his chance. Although 1m6f is a bit of a question mark, the fact there is a flag start will be a bonus and in an open contest he has every chance.
We have two runners in the finale, a hands and heels contest. Dylan Centenary ran well when fourth in a similar race under Sophie Killoran, who was having her first ride on that occasion. This race looks even weaker and Dylan is an uncomplicated horse so should not be too far away once again. Eugenic has been disappointing as he works nicely at home but has not really reproduced it on the track so far, failing to build on a promising fourth at Chepstow. The main issue is whether he will stay a mile as his pedigree suggests he is a sprinter but has lacked speed on recent starts. It would be great if either of them were off the mark!
Three Wins So Far In June
The yard's good run of form has continued in June, with three winners so far. Taws had slowly got the hang of racing in her three maidens but stepped up to 1m6f, encountering soft ground at Nottingham, she made an impressive winning handicap debut. She does not do anything quickly but kept to extreme distances, she is certainly capable of winning some nice races, especially when there is ease in the ground.
The yard is having a cracking time with the two-year-olds, with five having stepped foot on the racecourse and four of them have won already, while Marcano finished third on his only start in a very competitive maiden at Newbury. Kingsbridge showed plenty of speed on his debut over six furlongs at Goodwood, so Seb Sanders suggested dropping him back to the minimum trip, despite the fact he is bred for a bit further. However, he handled the speedier test at Nottingham with ease when improving nicely to secure success on his second start. Similar comments applied to Indaria who was green and needed the experience when only fourth on her debut at Bath. With that run under her belt, she showed tremendous early speed on her second start at Salisbury, racing a tad keenly under Oisin Murphy but always doing enough to hold on. She should have an exciting two-year-old season, especially as she seems comfortable on a fast surface.
The yard is having a cracking time with the two-year-olds, with five having stepped foot on the racecourse and four of them have won already, while Marcano finished third on his only start in a very competitive maiden at Newbury. Kingsbridge showed plenty of speed on his debut over six furlongs at Goodwood, so Seb Sanders suggested dropping him back to the minimum trip, despite the fact he is bred for a bit further. However, he handled the speedier test at Nottingham with ease when improving nicely to secure success on his second start. Similar comments applied to Indaria who was green and needed the experience when only fourth on her debut at Bath. With that run under her belt, she showed tremendous early speed on her second start at Salisbury, racing a tad keenly under Oisin Murphy but always doing enough to hold on. She should have an exciting two-year-old season, especially as she seems comfortable on a fast surface.
Friday, 30 May 2014
First Ever Across The Card Treble
Thursday 29th May proved to be a red letter day for the yard as we recorded our first ever treble. Ivors Princess and Graphene doubled up at Bath before Master Carpenter ran away to Listed success in the Heron Stakes at Sandown.
Master Carpenter has been the yard's flag bearer so far in 2014, surprising us all by finishing third in the Greenham as an 80/1 shot, staying on strongly behind Kingman and Night Of Thunder, form boosted when they filled first and second in the 2,000 Guineas. Stepped up to ten furlongs, he showed that was no fluke by finishing third in the Sandown Classic Trial on heavy ground and then runner-up to Pinzolo on quick ground at Newmarket. We felt that he did not quite see out the ten furlongs there and a mile with ease in the ground may prove to be his optimum conditions, yet all three that have beaten him over ten furlongs are still engaged in next week's Derby.
Although he has had a busy start to the season, with all the rain that fell over the Bank Holiday weekend, we felt we had to run again, this time in the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown's high profile Brigadier Gerard evening meeting. Admittedly we were slightly concerned about the heavy ground, as Ryan felt he did not really handle similar conditions in the Classic Trial. Although Master Carpenter had by far the best form going into the race, his rivals were unexposed and could have been anything and he was sent off third favourite at 3/1. Settled out the back by Ryan Moore, the running style which seems to suit him best, the field went extremely wide down the back straight and round the home bend. Ryan Moore is not Champion Jockey and best in the world for no reason and sensing that the other jockeys were needlessly wasting ground, went round the inside, saving plenty of ground and was in front when joining his four rivals three furlongs from home. Asked to quicken inside the final two, Master Carpenter rapidly pulled away from the opposition to record a seven length success. While the move by Ryan certainly aided Master Carpenter, we still feel that he was good enough to have won the race even if he had followed the others but it was by far the easiest race he has had this year and will have done his confidence the world of good. Plans are extremely fluid, mainly due to the fact we would like to run him where there is ease in the ground but he will probably step back into Group 3 company and deserves more success.
This was a first Black-Type success for the Links Partnership, long time supporters of the yard and without such loyal owners, we could not stay involved in the game, While Cheveley Park Stud, who acquired a half-share in him before Royal Ascot last year, have had many Black-type successes, it was very important for the yard to do well for such a high profile owner and hopefully a high-class horse like Master Carpenter will get some more owners into the yard.
While the double at Bath was highly rewarding for the yard as well. Ivors Princess is a tricky mare, who recorded her fourth career success in the 1m4f handicap, showing a surprising amount of stamina as her three previous successes came over six and seven furlongs. However, she clearly enjoyed the steadier pace and was on a going day. She will be capable of winning again, especially in the plethora of fillies races that are open to her over ten to twelve furlongs. Graphene had been very disappointing in three runs on the AW so we were not sure what to expect returned to turf on his fifth start. Slowly away, he enjoyed the strong early pace which spread out the field and was moving into contention when slipping on the home bend. Sean Levey did extremely well to stay on board but it looked as if his chance had gone. However, he did not lose much momentum and hit the front inside the final furlong to win a shade cosily. He is at the right end of the handicap, looks as if he will stay much further and should provide some fun for his owners this season.
We also had impressive Warwick winner Bonnie Grey at Sandown in the National Stakes and we were hoping for a big run. However, the ground was much softer than on her debut and she was not travelling from an early stage, not helped by being stuck in the middle of the track. She still stayed on nicely for fourth, certainly was not disgraced and she will probably step up to six furlongs. It is likely she will miss Royal Ascot and head to a Listed race at Newmarket. While Indaria was not disgraced when finishing fourth on her debut at Bath and showed she has ability, with the benefit of experience a race should certainly come her way.
Master Carpenter has been the yard's flag bearer so far in 2014, surprising us all by finishing third in the Greenham as an 80/1 shot, staying on strongly behind Kingman and Night Of Thunder, form boosted when they filled first and second in the 2,000 Guineas. Stepped up to ten furlongs, he showed that was no fluke by finishing third in the Sandown Classic Trial on heavy ground and then runner-up to Pinzolo on quick ground at Newmarket. We felt that he did not quite see out the ten furlongs there and a mile with ease in the ground may prove to be his optimum conditions, yet all three that have beaten him over ten furlongs are still engaged in next week's Derby.
Although he has had a busy start to the season, with all the rain that fell over the Bank Holiday weekend, we felt we had to run again, this time in the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown's high profile Brigadier Gerard evening meeting. Admittedly we were slightly concerned about the heavy ground, as Ryan felt he did not really handle similar conditions in the Classic Trial. Although Master Carpenter had by far the best form going into the race, his rivals were unexposed and could have been anything and he was sent off third favourite at 3/1. Settled out the back by Ryan Moore, the running style which seems to suit him best, the field went extremely wide down the back straight and round the home bend. Ryan Moore is not Champion Jockey and best in the world for no reason and sensing that the other jockeys were needlessly wasting ground, went round the inside, saving plenty of ground and was in front when joining his four rivals three furlongs from home. Asked to quicken inside the final two, Master Carpenter rapidly pulled away from the opposition to record a seven length success. While the move by Ryan certainly aided Master Carpenter, we still feel that he was good enough to have won the race even if he had followed the others but it was by far the easiest race he has had this year and will have done his confidence the world of good. Plans are extremely fluid, mainly due to the fact we would like to run him where there is ease in the ground but he will probably step back into Group 3 company and deserves more success.
This was a first Black-Type success for the Links Partnership, long time supporters of the yard and without such loyal owners, we could not stay involved in the game, While Cheveley Park Stud, who acquired a half-share in him before Royal Ascot last year, have had many Black-type successes, it was very important for the yard to do well for such a high profile owner and hopefully a high-class horse like Master Carpenter will get some more owners into the yard.
While the double at Bath was highly rewarding for the yard as well. Ivors Princess is a tricky mare, who recorded her fourth career success in the 1m4f handicap, showing a surprising amount of stamina as her three previous successes came over six and seven furlongs. However, she clearly enjoyed the steadier pace and was on a going day. She will be capable of winning again, especially in the plethora of fillies races that are open to her over ten to twelve furlongs. Graphene had been very disappointing in three runs on the AW so we were not sure what to expect returned to turf on his fifth start. Slowly away, he enjoyed the strong early pace which spread out the field and was moving into contention when slipping on the home bend. Sean Levey did extremely well to stay on board but it looked as if his chance had gone. However, he did not lose much momentum and hit the front inside the final furlong to win a shade cosily. He is at the right end of the handicap, looks as if he will stay much further and should provide some fun for his owners this season.
We also had impressive Warwick winner Bonnie Grey at Sandown in the National Stakes and we were hoping for a big run. However, the ground was much softer than on her debut and she was not travelling from an early stage, not helped by being stuck in the middle of the track. She still stayed on nicely for fourth, certainly was not disgraced and she will probably step up to six furlongs. It is likely she will miss Royal Ascot and head to a Listed race at Newmarket. While Indaria was not disgraced when finishing fourth on her debut at Bath and showed she has ability, with the benefit of experience a race should certainly come her way.
Tuesday, 20 May 2014
More Black Type For Master Carpenter
Stable star Master Carpenter has had a very successful 2014 and proved his Greenham third was no fluke by finishing third in the Sandown Classic Trial and then runner-up in a Newmarket Listed event at the weekend.
As he stayed on strongly in the Greenham, backed up by his pedigree, we felt that Master Carpenter would stay ten furlongs and when the Sandown Classic Trial re-opened, we felt it was worth an entry as we were guaranteed to get ease in the ground. However, we did not expect the ground to be so soft come raceday and like most horses that ran there, Master Carpenter found it pretty hard work and never moved as fluently as normal. He still put up a valiant effort to finish third to Western Hymn (a possible Derby candidate for John Gosden) but it did not really tell us what his optimum conditions were.
Last weekend there were two possible Listed races for him to tackle, one over seven furlongs, the other a mile and a quarter. With the ground drying out so quickly, we felt that we had to tackle the longer trip and with only five runners, it made it an easy decision. In the race he settled nicely off a steady early pace before being asked for his effort approaching the two furlong marker. While he looked to hold every chance coming out of the dip, the superior stamina and perhaps class of Godolphin's Pinzolo enabled his rival to pull two lengths clear. Although he handled the ground and stayed ten furlongs to pretty good effect, we feel as though a mile on easy ground will be his optimum conditions this year. Where such opportunities arise will be down to the British Weather but he certainly looks capable of winning in Pattern company and it is great to have a horse like him in the yard.
As he stayed on strongly in the Greenham, backed up by his pedigree, we felt that Master Carpenter would stay ten furlongs and when the Sandown Classic Trial re-opened, we felt it was worth an entry as we were guaranteed to get ease in the ground. However, we did not expect the ground to be so soft come raceday and like most horses that ran there, Master Carpenter found it pretty hard work and never moved as fluently as normal. He still put up a valiant effort to finish third to Western Hymn (a possible Derby candidate for John Gosden) but it did not really tell us what his optimum conditions were.
Last weekend there were two possible Listed races for him to tackle, one over seven furlongs, the other a mile and a quarter. With the ground drying out so quickly, we felt that we had to tackle the longer trip and with only five runners, it made it an easy decision. In the race he settled nicely off a steady early pace before being asked for his effort approaching the two furlong marker. While he looked to hold every chance coming out of the dip, the superior stamina and perhaps class of Godolphin's Pinzolo enabled his rival to pull two lengths clear. Although he handled the ground and stayed ten furlongs to pretty good effect, we feel as though a mile on easy ground will be his optimum conditions this year. Where such opportunities arise will be down to the British Weather but he certainly looks capable of winning in Pattern company and it is great to have a horse like him in the yard.
Debut Success For Bonnie Grey
The yard had a rare two-year-old debut winner when Bonnie Grey got off the mark in taking style at Warwick. The Hellvelyn filly only started coming to herself ten days before her debut and is likely to improve plenty for this intial experience. The race was run in a good time and from a family we know well (half-brother Cop Hill Lad was runner-up in the Super Sprint and we also won with half-sister Bahamian Ceildh) she is an exciting prospect that could be anything. She may head to Sandown for the Listed National Stakes next week.
Another two-year-old to shape well on debut was Marcano, a £58,000 Arcano yearling that was the most expensive horse we have ever bought, who finished third in what is traditionally a very hot six furlong maiden at Newbury. He was outpaced mid-race before staying on very strongly in the closing stages. He is another individual we expect to improve plenty from the outing and if all goes well in his maiden next time out, he could be good enough for Royal Ascot. However, he is likely to need further in time and he is certainly a very exciting horse for the future.
Another two-year-old to shape well on debut was Marcano, a £58,000 Arcano yearling that was the most expensive horse we have ever bought, who finished third in what is traditionally a very hot six furlong maiden at Newbury. He was outpaced mid-race before staying on very strongly in the closing stages. He is another individual we expect to improve plenty from the outing and if all goes well in his maiden next time out, he could be good enough for Royal Ascot. However, he is likely to need further in time and he is certainly a very exciting horse for the future.
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