The Sun is Shining

After a decent 2nd at Pontefract over the marathon distance of 2m5½f on his first Flat start for the yard, Warranty headed to Nottingham last Wednesday bidding to go one place better.  Dropping back to 2 miles, he needed to be bustled along to lead leaving the stalls and found himself continually hassled in front, with Call My Bluff – one of the market principals - sitting right on his quarters.  Headed entering the final four furlongs, he folded rather tamely to finish last of the ten runners with Call My Bluff managing to hold off the late challenge of the favourite Cochise. He ran well at Pontefract on his previous start, so hopefully getting him back there for a race on Monday 7^thJune will spark a return to form.

Our sole jumps runner in the past couple of weeks came at Market Rasen a day later, when Breaking Waves took his chance in a competitive 2½m handicap hurdle.  Placed on his two previous starts, he settled just behind the leaders, keeping three or four horses off the rail throughout.  He then loomed up going well at the top of the home straight, jumping on with Fair Mountain two out.  He was just getting the worst of that argument when hitting the last and dropping to 3rd, behind the aforementioned Fair Mountain. With form figures of 233 since being fitted with blinkers, we hope his turn is near. He could return to the Lincolnshire venue for another handicap over a slightly shorter trip next Friday.

Neverbeen To Paris was another horse we tried back on the Flat last week, lining up in a 2m handicap at Goodwood on Friday.  Making his first start in this sphere since September 2018, a year that saw him win twice for Michael Bell, it was clear from an early stage that he was finding it hard work on the soft ground as he had to be niggled along towards the rear.  He tried to rally in the straight, challenging widest of all, but his effort proved short-lived and we’ll look to get him back on a sounder surface next time, be that on the Flat or over hurdles. We may let him take his chance at either Yarmouth on Tuesday or on the poly-track at Kempton next Wednesday where there should be no problems with underfoot conditions.  Worcester a week on Saturday is an alternative if we elect to go back over hurdles.

The versatile See The Eagle Fly had a plethora of entries over the Bank Holiday weekend and has been declared for Catterick tomorrow on the flat over 1m4f.  Considering she has improved since going hurdling, there could be some mileage in her Flat mark of just 55.  She's been fairly consistent since joining the yard this season and we hope she can continue to progress this summer.

Calidad unfortunately didn’t fulfil our expectations in a couple of runs in bumpers, but we are looking forward to getting him started over hurdles.  He holds multiple entries in maiden events over 2 miles and we will leave our options open.

Flash de Clerval hasn’t run since pulling up at Market Rasen at the end of December, but is ready to go again and we might start him back over hurdles at Fontwell or Uttoxeter on Sunday, otherwise Ffos Las next Thursday is another option.  Conversely, we could continue over fences with entries at Huntingdon on Bank Holiday Monday and Uttoxeter and Market Rasen towards the end of next week.

Until next week...