I had a few winners over the weekend, with Sortita and Astrodome obliging on Saturday. The latter battled on well up at Hamilton as he was headed inside the final furlong but fought back to win. He is a half brother to a prolific winner from the same yard called Alambic. I see that Astrodome is entered a number of times in the next week and it will be interesting to see if his trainer tries to follow up under a penalty.
Things went quite well for me at Chester this afternoon with wins for Proclaim and Green Manalishi. Proclaim made all from his inside draw. He is a half brother to Dhaular Dhar, who also likes it at Chester.
Green Manalishi was also well drawn and was winning the Queens Ferry Stakes for the second year running. J-P Guillambert was on board both Astrodome and Proclaim and gave them both a good ride from the front.
There are a few interesting runners at Carlisle and Windsor tomorrow. My main hope at the Cumbrian track is David Barker’s Dendor, who makes his first appearance of the season in the 8.15. David Barker does well with his sprinters and the likes of Sierra Vista and Celtic Mill have done him proud in recent seasons. Dendor looks capable of following in their footsteps based on his win at Ayr last season. He has scope for improvement and looks a horse to follow. Barker’s horses have been running well of late so Dendor looks in with a fair chance.
Another with possibilities at Carlisle is Kashimin in the 7.45. A winner at Pontefract as a 2 year old on good ground he ran his best race of the season at Haydock at the beginning of July when runner up in a 17 runner handicap again on good ground. He then ran poorly back at Haydock last time but that was on heavy ground so perhaps we can forgive him that run.
The only other runner from my list to follow at Carlisle is Piverina in the 6.45. She has not managed to reach the frame in her 6 starts this season so is hard to fancy.
At Windsor I see that Wyeth runs in the 6.00, which is an amateur riders race. Wyeth is a half brother to George Washington, but sadly does not seem to have much of his illustrious relative’s ability. Wyeth is a 4 year old but is yet to win a race.
Old Cape Royal was not winning out of turn when he made all from a good draw at Nottingham, to break a 24 race losing sequence. He runs in the Windsor where he is again favourably drawn. He has blistering early pace and he may well be difficult to peg back again in the 7.00.
Formation does not lack for talent but he has looked a pretty difficult ride. He won at Pontefract a couple of runs ago when ridden by Jamie Spencer. The partnership are back together again in the 7.30 and Spencer may well be able to cajole this tricky customer along once again.
There are a few nice types in the 8.00. I was impressed with Duncan on his debut when he was second at Newmarket over a mile. He is bred to appreciate the extra 2 furlongs tomorrow and I note that the 3rd horse in that Newmarket race has won since. Island Vista made a pleasing debut over 7 furlongs at Kempton last season but then suffered a minor setback and hasn’t run since. She is another that will appreciate the longer trip; in fact she may well want even further.
Acknowledgements: My thanks to Jane Ince for the photo of Carlisle racecourse, and to artists Lisa Miller (top) and Katy Sodeau for allowing me to use their pictures.
That is it for tonight.
ahorse 