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Saturday 20th July
Trio for Saturday
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Saturday 20th July
Trio for Saturday
We saddle a trio of runners on Saturday: Charming Dream (1.55 Cartmel), Ballycrystal Court (4.30 Market Rasen) and Nortonthorpelegend (4.50 Cartmel).
Charming Dream came to us from Dan Skelton and ran a pleasing first race for us at Hexham last month, travelling powerfully and briefly looking the winner approaching the last, his exuberance catching up with him as he failed to match the winner from the final flight. This looks a much tougher race and he will need to back up that Hexham effort, with consistency not something he's shown too much of so far in his career. The hood goes on here.
Ballycrystal Court ran an encouraging first race for us when third over hurdles here back in May, responding well to the change of scenery and fitting of cheekpieces. We dispense with the headgear here and he now switches to fences having schooled fine at home. It looks a competitive event but hopefully he runs well again.
Nortonthorpelegend took advantage of falling mark to score a couple of times around the turn of the year, but he signed off with a lesser effort when bidding for a hat trick at Sedgefield. He rallied well for pressure to take second on his return to action at Hexham last month and that ought to have put him spot on for this.
Wednesday 17th July
Romeo returns to Catterick
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Wednesday 17th July
Romeo returns to Catterick
Our sole representative on Wednesday is Landing Night in the 4.30 at Catterick. He will be ridden by Clifford Lee.
He is a triple course and distance winner and has only finished out of the first three here once in seven outings. He's a horse that doesn’t win as often as he perhaps ought to, not always finding as much as he promises to and needing things to fall his way. The return to this track and a step back in grade should help, while we have fitted him with a visor in order to perk him up. Down to his lowest ever career mark, we hope it all finally clicks for ‘Romeo‘.
Tuesday 16th July
One for Tuesday
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Tuesday 16th July
One for Tuesday
Our only runner on Tuesday is Celtic Artisan in the 5.40 at Nottingham. Ella McCain takes the ride.
He is still seeking his first win on turf but has run some highly creditable races in defeat, in particular at Pontefract last time when second in a similar event. A repeat of that performance should see him bang there, looking to be in fine heart at present.
Monday 15th July
One runner for Monday
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Monday 15th July
One runner for Monday
Our sole runner on Monday is Steccando in the 7.10 Wolves.
It his first run for us on the Flat, having disappointed a little on his hurdling debut back in the autumn. He was a fair enough maiden on the level for Alan Swinbank and Sally Haynes, running some decent races in defeat during 2017 in handicap company. He has obviously got a bit on at the weights but has the assistance of Gerald Mosse and is now fitted with cheekpieces and a tongue tie, all of which can hopefully elicit a bigger performance from him.
Saturday 13th July
One for Saturday
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Saturday 13th July
One for Saturday
Our only runner on Saturday is Thaayer in the 4.20 at Chester.
It is fair to say he hasn't quite progressed as hoped since accounting for Matterhorn at Newcastle last November. For all that form isn’t worth taking literally, he ought to have run better in his two outings in handicaps, racing freely throughout the early stages when seventh at Newcastle on Plate day a fortnight ago. Hopefully that knocked the freshness out of him and he will wear earplugs this time in an attempt to pacify him. We know he’s good enough to be competitive from a mark of 77, and it looks like there will be a good amount of pace on which should see him settle better.