Check out the leading trainer's thoughts on his team for 2021 including some interesting runners at Chester and York.
The new season is going very well for us. We had a nice little all-weather campaign, a few jumpers won and the Flat horses have started really nicely.
ART POWER
We’re really looking forward to him. He’s a horse that does improve as the season goes on. When he was a two-year-old he wasn’t a colt who was a natural to start with. He’s just getting ready to run now and all being well will run in the Duke Of York next week.
A horse like him will go to Royal Ascot and the Haydock Sprint Cup and there are races all through the year for him. I’m thinking six furlongs for now, he can cope with five and might stay seven but he’s fast.
CASSY O
A really tough horse who improved all last season and will improve again this year too. He’s developed into a big, strong horse now having always been a little on the weak side before.
COPPER KNIGHT
He’s been a wonderful servant and has dropped down the handicap a little which he deserved to as he’s getting older. He needs juice in the ground and is ready to go when we get some.
DARK JEDI
This is a lovely horse who did really well for us last year. We have a nice campaign in mind this season and there are some good races coming up for him. He probably won’t be running until the end of May or early June and we’d love to take a chance and run him in something like the Sky Bet Ebor if he got in it. He might need to go up first.
DELGREY BOY
A half-brother to Highwaygrey who was difficult to train as a two-year-old as he was a bit immature and we didn’t run him much. At three he ran a couple of nice races and went to Wolverhampton and got knocked over. He came back lame behind so he didn’t run again.
He ran a nice race first time back at Pontefract, always running just a bit wide, the handicapper dropped him five pounds which I was happy with and he won next time at Thirsk. We’ll probably try and back him up at Ripon on Friday.
ECLIPSE DE LUNAR
A lovely horse by Sea The Moon. He’s done really well and takes no work at all, he’s quite light framed. He took a bit of time to come to himself but will start at York and I think he’s on a fair mark.
FISHABLE
Another lovely horse who has done very well, a gelding operation definitely helped him. He ran a super race at Ripon, the form is working out tremendously well, and he’ll go to York all being well. There are some good pots coming up for him.
GLENCADAM GLORY
He’s done really over the winter and runs in the Chester Cup on Friday. Whether he’s going to get two-and-a-quarter miles around there I don’t know but Sea Pigeon did and he never got two miles anywhere else. It’s a unique race and the cut in the ground is important to him.
We’d aimed for the Sky Bet Ebor all last year with him and he ran a great race to finish second. Dave Allen was confident on him and let him roll up there and he ran a hell of a race.
GOLDEN APOLLO
Another one who’s been great for us. We’ll be aiming to go back up to Ayr with him. He likes Ascot too but we haven’t had too many chances to go there with him. He won’t be ready until later in the season as he picked up a little injury at the end of last season but he’s training well.
HIGHWAYGREY
Another nice horse and a mile-and-a-quarter one we think. We bred him and he loves fast ground, it can’t be too firm for him. If the watering system broke down he’d love it.
LAMPANG
He had a blip at Doncaster at the weekend and I haven’t really got to the bottom of it. He’d been running some really good races and just threw in a bad one but is a really nice horse to have.
LOST MY SOCK
Ran a good race at Ripon first-time out but blipped next time at Thirsk. Maybe the ground was a bit quick for him there and he just ran a bit with the choke out.
MANIGORDO
A sprinter and very quick. He could be a fast ground horse, I’d say it couldn’t be too quick for him.
MR CARPENTER
He’s a horse who likes a bit of juice in the ground, you couldn’t really run him a lot on a fast surface. He ran a nice race at Newcastle on his return, running all the way to the line, and there’s a race for him at York next week so he’ll head there.
MUSIC SOCIETY
We had him all lined up for the Ayr Bronze Cup again last year but he tripped coming out of the stalls and lost his jockey and it was game over. We’ll go down the same route with him and he could pick up a decent pot.
POET’S DAWN
A wonderful little horse who won at Beverley last time. He just tries and runs to the line. He loves a little juice in the ground and runs a big race wherever he goes.
SAMEEM
He’s new to us and very nice. He’s taken a long time to come to himself, he wasn’t ready early on, was backward in his coat and took a long time to eat. He’s acclimatised now and doing well.
STAXTON
A wonderful horse who loves Ripon, he’s a seven pounds better horse there than anywhere else. He’ll be aimed at the Great St Wilfrid again and if he goes there with a nice mark he should go well. There are plenty of other races for him first though.
WELLS FARHH GO
He’s back and runs in the Yorkshire Cup next week all being well. There’s a big programme for him throughout the year but he doesn’t want firm ground. He’ll be running at a mile-and-a-half or a mile-and-six, that’s as far as we’ll go.
WINTER POWER
We’re really happy with her, she’s training really well and has grown and filled out. There’s a Listed race for her over five furlongs at York and the Temple Stakes at Haydock. She’ll run in one of those as a prep before going to Ascot for the King’s Stand. She’s very quick, very natural, goes on any ground and is a lovely filly to have to train.
ATOMIC LADY
A lovely filly. She’s a daughter of Kodiac and her second dam is the dam of Attraction. She’s from a good family and is exciting, we like her a lot. She ran really well on debut at Thirsk.
JUNGLE BEE
He’s very quick and has loads of pace. He just ran a little bit with the choke out and just needed the run when fourth in the same race. He might like a bit of juice in the ground and is one to follow.
I like what I’ve seen of the two-year-olds, we have some nice ones. There’s a colt and a filly by Iffraaj who look really nice and some others kicking about too.