After a busy weekend in the world of horse racing things quieten down a shade for the remainder of the week. There is racing at Ripon tomorrow though, as well as all weather action at Great Leighs and racing in the north west of Ireland in the evening at Sligo, the town where the poet W B Yeats spent his childhood.
Sligo stages the Terry Casey Memorial Maiden Hurdle at 7.35. Casey is best remembered for training the winner of the 1996 Grand National, Rough Quest. He also rode another Grand National winner, Grittar, twice successfully over hurdles. He sadly died in 2001. The likely winner of the race looks to be Caim Hill who won a competitive bumper at Galway earlier this month. If he jumps OK he will be hard to beat.
Great Leigh’s became the first new racecourse in the UK since Taunton in 1927 when the track opened earlier this year. The course is situated in Essex, near Chelmsford. Racing is not new to the area as there used to be a race track at Chelmsford in times gone by, well two miles south of the town in truth, in a village called Galleywood. The great Golden Miller ran there twice in 1931, not surprisingly winning on both occasions.
Back to the present there is a runner from my list to follow entered in the 3.30 at Great Leighs. City Stable ran 3 times as a juvenile and was placed each time. As his dam is a half sister to the high class Gamut he looked a fair bet to improve as a 3 year old when tackling middle distances. In the event he is probably only moderate and on his second start this season was second in a maiden at Catterick. He should be up to winning a race somewhere but following Sir Michael Stoute maidens at Great Leighs is unlikely to make anyone rich. Quite the opposite I would imagine!
One of the interesting things about the flat racing season is to see how the first season sires get on. Needwood Blade was a decent sprinter without being out of the top drawer and is now at stud. There are 65 of his progeny in training this season and there are a couple of them in action at Ripon tomorrow. Needwood Lad runs in the 2.45 and looks likely to start favourite on the basis of his win in a Newcastle maiden on soft ground. Looking at the opposition the Ann Duffield runner Firebet (pictured below) caught my eye. He won on his debut on soft ground at Carlisle before running too freely in better company at Newbury. Joint champion jockey Seb Sanders is booked to ride this one which may be significant.
In the maiden at 4.15 Blades Princess, a daughter of Needwood Blade, looks to have the best form having finished runner up on her debut on fast ground at Beverley. She is a late foal and may have scope for further improvement. She also showed a battling attitude at Beverley and could well go one better tomorrow. Once again Ann Duffield provides one of the main dangers in the shape of Whispering Spirit (pictured below) who was second at Carlisle on her racecourse debut.
The two photographs today are by courtesy of Ann Duffield Racing and I am also grateful to the artist Nick Fegan for allowing me to use his painting "The Final Furlong." (See links)
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