29/05/22

After Smokey Malone's win last week, it seems like the horses are in good form and the only representative this week was Arpina who finished second at Lingfield behind a horse who has already won again since so the form is solid and she can hopefully get her head in front soon.
We swerved a trip to Haydock on Friday evening because we thought the ground would be too firm for Mrs Meader. They got some rain the day before racing which would have been ideal but then a horse slipped on the bend in the second race so the meeting was abandoned anyway. 
Whether it is through bad management or bad luck with the weather, Haydock's going always seems very unreliable and the going description can never really be trusted. It's bad that this can be allowed to happen and it definitely does mean that we don't have as many runners as we could at the course because of this fact.

We've a good few runners this week, kicking off on Monday with Amberdaay at Windsor.
She made an eye-catching debut at Nottingham but then ran a very disappointing race at Bath the next time when she got worked up before the race and found little during it. If she can get back to the form of her first run she should have a squeak but I just want to get her going in the right direction again.

On Tuesday we'll have just the one runner at Yarmouth with Spanish Mane. She ran well last time but the one mile seems to be the extent of her stamina so dropping back to seven furlongs here is a positive and I can see her running well again.

Three horses are entered on Thursday at two meetings, starting with Stintino Sunset at Chelmsford.
She behaved very well on her debut at Kempton a couple of weeks ago and learnt plenty for the experience so I hope she can start to show a bit of improvement.
Queen's Company is also entered there but I'll assess her form during the week as she has been a little bit quiet since her last run. She has dropped in the weights and is starting to look well handicapped now so I can afford to wait until she is in top form.

The third entry on Thursday is at Leicester with Fen Tiger.
We've been waiting for some soft ground with him as he'll win when getting those conditions. Trying to find it has been the hardest part as the dry spring continues. We'll probably run whatever the ground as he needs another race but firm ground would count against him.

The ground will decide where we go with The Mouse King on Friday too. He's entered at Goodwood and Doncaster that day and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can achieve in handicaps after showing promise in novice races. His rating of 67 isn't too harsh so hopefully he can hit the ground running.

Rounding off a busy week will be Arpina and Smokey Malone at Lingfield on Saturday evening.
Both are in fine form at the moment so would be going there with big chances, providing their races are run to suit them.