Sky Sports Racing’s Ambassador reveals 10 of the horses she is most looking forward to riding this Flat season.
It’s fantastic that my boss Imad Alsagar has kept his Classic-winning mare in training for another year and I’m hoping she can reward his judgement. We were far from disappointed with her re-appearance in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in Meydan last month, when her exertions from a poor draw just took their toll.
John and Thady Gosden could now aim her at Newbury for the Group One Lockinge Stakes over a mile in May though she also has an entry in the 10f Group Two Middleton Stakes against her own sex at York that week. She’s returned from the Middle East in great shape and I can’t wait to sit on her again.
Alan King’s star stayer has wintered well and may make his seasonal return in the Group Three Sagaro Stakes at Ascot on May 1. He was revitalised last season by a wind operation, winning the Doncaster Cup and the Group One Prix du Cadran, and has had a nice long break since finishing a brave fourth in his bid for a fourth Long Distance Cup on Champions Day.
All the big staying races will be on his agenda and I can’t see why he can’t write a few more chapters in an amazing career story at the age of eight.
Like a lot of sprinters, Archie Watson’s gelding is quirky but very talented on his day as he demonstrated by winning a valuable handicap at York’s Ebor Festival last year. He’s been in good form on the All-Weather this winter, too, starting the year with victory in the Finals Day Trial at Newcastle on New Year’s Day.
A versatile performer who loves to rattle home off a strong pace, he’s up to an official rating of 110 now which will force him up into Pattern company, but I’m sure he’ll be at home there.
This ex-Andre Fabre four-year-old is very exciting. He won at the first time of asking for Archie (Watson) and Hambleton Racing in a six furlong Newcastle handicap last month. Gelded after being bought at the autumn sales for just 38,000 gns, this lovely son of Siyouni is set to re-appear in a hot handicap at Newbury this weekend and, having won on soft ground in France, won’t mind the expected ease in the ground. I’d like to think there’s a big handicap at the very least in him this year.
Lightly raced for a five-year-old, this ex-Godolphin gelding looks another potentially smart acquisition for Hambleton Racing. Like Grand Traverse, he won first time out for Archie (Watson) at Newcastle in February and has been pleasing us at home ahead of a turf campaign.
Up 6lb to a mark of 90 for that performance, he was due to run at Redcar’s ill-fated fixture on Monday en route to a crack at some of the big mile handicaps.
Imad Alsagar’s grey ran better than the form figure suggests in the Rosebery Handicap at Kempton earlier this month after making a winning start on the All-Weather. He didn’t enjoy the best of trips and had to make up a lot of ground off a modest gallop, yet still ran on to be third.
Another son of Siyouni, he’ll get further and the one-mile-and-six heritage handicap at the Guineas Meeting next month looks an ideal stepping stone to something like the Copper Horse Stakes at Royal Ascot which I won for Imad and the Gosdens on Amtiyaz in 2021.
Yet another exciting horse for Hambleton Racing, Dyrholaey is due to run in a 5f novice at Newcastle on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Racing, after winning a Wolverhampton novice in emphatic style under a penalty last month. That was over 6f, but Archie (Watson) and the team are keen to drop him back in distance to find out if he’s just as effective.
Beginning his handicap career off a rating of 90, he could emerge as a contender for something like the Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes at Royal Ascot – a race Archie and I won last summer with Rhythm N Hooves.
Archie (Watson) did an amazing job with this lad last year, winning the Wokingham at Royal Ascot at the first time of asking. He ran what was arguably an even better race on his next start when he finished a close third in the Group One Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, announcing himself as a genuine Pattern performer.
Expect to see him in the big sprints again this year, starting with the Group 3 Abernant Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday and then the Duke Of York Stakes next month.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how far this gorgeous filly can progress this year after winning her novice at Beverley last September. She’s in good hands with Andrew Balding who has been happy with her through the winter and she comes back to the track a stronger and more complete filly. Imad Alsagar’s daughter of Blue Point will hopefully gain some valuable black type as the summer progresses.
I was in France on Monday to ride Action Point in a Group 3 sprint at Chantilly. He only just failed to hold on in a Listed race there last month over six-and-a-half furlongs so dropping back one looked a logical option. Archie does well with his runners abroad and this Blue Point colt looks exactly the type to make his mark in Group races in Europe after winning the Listed Rose Bowl at Newbury and finishing third in the Listed two-year-old Trophy at Redcar last year.
