Hugo Palmer Flat season stable tour
Graham Clark gets the lowdown from Galileo Gold's trainer Hugo Palmer ahead of another hugely-exciting Flat season.
When discussions take place surrounding who will be a champion trainer of the future, the name Hugo Palmer is one that comes up more often than not.
Since starting out back in 2011, the Newmarket-based handler has enjoyed a rise nothing short of meteoric to become one of the brightest prospects among the training ranks.
Having enjoyed his first Classic winner with Covert Love in the 2015 Irish Oaks, last season saw Galileo Gold provide Palmer with an inaugural 2000 Guineas triumph.
With his stable star still in training, Palmer has high hopes the Al Shaqab Racing-owned son of Paco Boy can continue to work his magic on the track.
He said: "He is very happy and much more relaxed than he was. He hasn't grown, but he has developed and is more muscular.
"This year I think he will be campaigned more sparingly. We won't rush to travel him and the obvious point to start is the Lockinge.
"The programme of Lockinge, Queen Anne, Sussex looks pretty obvious to start with.
"I've got no concerns about having him ready first time unless he changes as he is a lot more relaxed.
"I can't see any reason to try him further at the moment unless in his racing he starts to look like he needs further.
"If he gets beaten in the Lockinge and Frankie Dettori comes back in and said the horse has changed and that he wants a mile a quarter then we would run him in the Prince of Wales's and not the Queen Anne.
"He is quite a strong-travelling horse. I remain to be convinced that he would really settle over a mile and a quarter."
With one British Classic already in safe-keeping, Palmer's focus could this season be on the Derby as Royal Lodge winner Best Of Days is a 25/1 shot to taste victory at Epsom.
He said: "Best Of Days is by Azamour and out of a mare that won a Listed race over a mile and a half.
"I think he is guaranteed to not only to stay but be at his best at a mile and a half, which is what we think we saw as a two-year-old.
"I think because he is a high-class horse he travels very well, and I think over a mile he struggles to have that turn of foot. James Doyle did a magnificent job to get the best of him in the Royal Lodge.
"He has been given a Guineas entry. It is often said the Guineas is a very good trial for the Derby. My feeling is that I'd prefer him to win a trial rather than finish sixth in a Guineas. He will be given a Dante entry.
"I like Lingfield, though, for the fact it's a furlong further than York and the fact they have to come downhill.
"That's my feeling where we will go with him."
Crimean Tatar perfectly fits the horses-that-could-be-anything category judged by the manner in which he won a Listed event at Kempton in November on just his second career start.
Palmer said: "He fractured his knee as a two-year-old and it is probably for that reason we pitched him into stakes company from his maiden because there is plenty of metal in his knee, because of that I don't know how long he is going to stay sound.
"I think that is what makes him so exciting, that he won a stakes race on his second start which is all very well for a two-year-old over six furlongs, but for a three-year-old to beat older seasoned horses over a mile and a half takes some doing.
"Having fallen out the stalls and been last to quicken up the way he quickened was very exciting. He doesn't show us a lot at home, again there is the suspicion we may have only scratched the surface with him.
"He could be a Gold Cup horse but at the end of the day he showed such a remarkable turn of foot at a mile and a half. He is going to start all being well in the John Porter at Newbury. If he were to win that I think we would then go to the Hardwicke."
The availability of champion jockey Jim Crowley - a key component in Palmer's successful season last year - is likely to be restricted as he is the new retained rider to Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.
But Palmer has been quick to secure the services of last year's champion apprentice Josephine Gordon.
He said: "The jockey situation will continue to be what it has been in that I will use the best available but, at the same time, I've always looked for some consistency.
"That's what we managed to find with Jim Crowley last year, which we won't be able to have this year. That said, I think Jim will ride for the yard when he can.
"I also think that James Doyle is an extraordinary talent and provided that he comes back from Australia I will use him an enormous amount as well.
"Josephine knows at this stage she is probably not going to have first pick on every single day.
"When we chatted about her coming on board I made it clear she will often ride horses to win their maiden and second races and then someone else will ride them on the big day.
"That said, as the yard gets bigger there is more and more opportunities and the good races are often on the same day as each other.
"While she might not necessarily have first pick of them she will be riding in those Group races - she is not just here to ride the maidens and handicappers.
"She is fully part of the team."
Palmer on the rest of his string:
"The problem with Architecture is she has only won a maiden so on her logbook page she only has small black type. She needs to win a stakes race. She will start in the Daisy Warwick at Goodwood on Guineas weekend. She has done very well. Physically she is a bigger filly and is much stronger, and hopefully that will make her a bit better."
"My suspicion is he is best over five furlongs. I think he is all about speed. He looked very good when he won a Group Three at Chantilly. He is a slightly surprising one as he doesn't make big promises in the morning. The ground was too quick for him in the Cornwallis. He does need a bit of cut in the ground."
"The fact he has continued to run well over a mile and a quarter is a good reason not to step him up yet. He is progressive and is beautifully bred. He's another that has done well physically. I see no point in him carrying top weight in a handicap. I know he likes a flat track but he could run in the Gordon Richards at Sandown as he has won there. I hope he is a Wolferton horse."
"He is a total blank canvas. He grew quite a lot as a two-year-old when we stopped with him. He is a very exciting horse. He will be in the Guineas and the French Guineas and the Derby. Physically, he looks like he will stay. If his work is leaving question marks, we will run him in a trial, probably the Greenham as he ran twice and won twice at Newbury. It is a great relief he has come back so strong."
"I think he could be a Britannia or a Tercentenary horse. We've had to work quite hard to settle him down. He had only done three pieces of work before his debut and never came off the bridle. When Josephine Gordon gave him a slap when he won at Newcastle it was the first time he came off the bridle with us. It took him a stride or two to work out what he was meant to do but he quickened up very impressively."
"We could go back to Leicester where he won a Listed race last year, but if that is going to be his best run it would be silly to waste it in a Listed race as he is already a Listed winner. I think we will start him in the Lockinge but it depends on the ground as he needs to hear his feet and it will depend on what Godolphin's other commitments are as well."
"He was fifth in the Middle Park but he might get seven furlongs. He has grown quite a lot, which is good. I imagine he will start in the Pavilion Stakes at Ascot. If he is good enough he will be a Commonwealth Cup type of horse."
"He might just be a mile-and-a-half horse and not get any further. But when he won at Doncaster he looked like he would stay. He did look good that day and Josephine said he is the best horse she has ridden. We might try the Henry II at Sandown or he could easily go for the Chester Cup. There is also the Buckhounds Stakes at Ascot which is a mile and a half."
"He is probably out of all them the horse that has changed most over the winter. He has really grown and visually looks like he has strengthened up. If he ran a massive race in the Craven or Greenham then we could run him in the Guineas. I've always felt he is a stakes horse of some description. But my slight suspicion, based on last year, is that he might be more of a Britannia horse than a 2000 Guineas winner."
"He has been bought by some Australians and the main goal is for him to go for the Melbourne Cup. In my book, he is a soft-ground performer. He banged a joint at Doncaster and had to spend too long in his box to run on Champions Day. He needs to be rated a bit higher than he is and he needs to qualify for the Melbourne Cup. There are various things he needs to do, like winning a Listed race over 11 furlongs or further. I think he will stay two miles."