David Menuisier Stable Tour ahead of 2020 Flat season

We've been very quiet in the last six week obviously but the main thing is everyone is feeling well so we can't complain.

We carried on the very same exercises we would normally do, we just haven't done the fast work. So we've maintained the horses' health and fitness without getting them really fit and I'm happy with where they are at the moment.

Last year was fantastic, we had a very good season. We had a great time in 2018 and felt it might be hard to match, so to surpass that was exceptional. We only had 26 or so horses so it was a dream to be able to compete in good races around the world.

I was really looking forward to getting going this time and it's been very frustrating - last year will now be very, very hard to pass now!

At the time you don't quite realise what you're achieving but during lockdown it's been nice to look back and think how good it's been over the past couple of seasons.

Our staff have been working really hard and we have a really good, reliable team that I can trust wherever they go. Logistically it can be testing but when you pull it off it makes everything even sweeter.

Stable Tour

ATALANTA'S BOY

He doesn't seem to be ground dependent which is good. He was always a bit tricky to train. Without being lame, he was always a little bit 'shuffly' but last year he was generally much more sound at home and really came to himself at six furlongs.

We tried to teach him how to settle and stay seven furlongs to a mile but he proved me wrong at Doncaster where he clearly didn't get home. He found the extra gears when we dropped him back and won three races. He's now rated 81 and he seems to do really well at Goodwood.

Perhaps we can slot into a good handicap there later on in the summer over six furlongs. He improved with the hood on as he can get easily distracted but he's getting more mature and more sensible.

DANCETERIA

Danceteria winning his Group One in Germany was superb. He always showed he had potential but he didn't have the strength as a younger horse to go up to that level. He came back at four a fully mature horse, physically and mentally, and it was great he could show what he could do.

When I ran him at Maisons-Laffitte last year he still had a bit of a winter coat on him and I was worried, he didn't look great in the paddock compared to the Andre Fabre horses in the race, but at the end he managed to win on the day and with that really told me he'd taken the step up big-time. And he kept improving through the season which was brilliant.

DRAGONS VOICE

He wants the ground on the soft side. He can have long breaks between races as he needs cut in the ground so it's like going back to scratch fitness-wise which perhaps isn't ideal. I think he'll stay further as he seems to be relaxing more being ridden held up. There are a few good stayers down the dam's side of his family line and I might try him over a mile and six. The handicapper may just have hold of him at the moment and he needs everything to fall right.

EDMOND DANTES

He's by Alhebayeb and in my experience they seem to need a bit of time to come to themselves. He's a half-brother to History Writer so I think he's needed time to come to himself too. I'd be hopeful he can win a race or two this year, he won over a mile and two but I might try him up over a mile and a half. He goes on any ground and could be a nice handicapper to follow.

GYPSY WHISPER

She was quite a tall filly as a two-year-old last year so it was a matter of asking the right questions but not too many questions. She seemed in great form and ran in the nursery at Newbury but ran like a miler that day. The form of the race is quite good and she'll start handicapping around seven furlongs and should be able to win races from her mark. She's done well over the winter.

HISTORY WRITER

He always gave us the feeling he was a really good horse and it wasn't always translating to the track. I felt soft ground was essential and I just couldn't find decent handicap races on soft ground for him here. So I supplemented him for the race in France, feeling the smaller field and softer ground would suit, and he ran a blinder to be third that day.

Maxime Guyon rode him and he's not an easy horse to ride as he's keen. I think he maybe came there a bit too soon but showed he was competitive at that level. So I targeted the Listed race at Saint-Cloud and he clearly loved the ground. The jockey took his time and when he went for the kill two furlongs out he flew and it was fantastic.

I'm hoping to run him at Group level this year but the ground has to be soft. I might have to run him once or twice on better ground this year but wait for the ground to make proper plans for him.

He did wear a tongue-tie in France and have been using it for the past couple of years but I'm not sure he really needs it, his breathing is fine. It maybe helps him relax as he's finally learnt how to settle.

INTO FAITH

He went to France as an outsider but his form in the UK was good and I knew there was nothing really between him and Luigi Vampa on their morning work. I felt on his second outing he was ridden a bit too handily for his own good as he was pulling and got tired in the final stages.

I felt stepping up to a mile he would improve and Pierre-Charles Boudot rode a really good race at Longchamp, relaxing him at the back, and he has a fantastic turn of foot over a furlong or so. That was the ideal scenario for him.

I don't think he's grown a lot physically but he's probably a bit stronger. I'm not sure which way I'm going to go with him as he was going to go for the German 2000 Guineas but he's only rated 90. I still don't really know but could run him in a handicap somewhere and go for a black type race later on in the year.

He's a French-bred so there's a good programme for him there. I have reservations about stepping up in trip further than a mile as it's a seven furlong to a mile family on the dam's side and he's a fairly small horse.

LUIGI VAMPA

Luigi Vampa was quite unlucky in his run at Longchamp because the horse in front of him was drifting and swishing his tail down the straight. Our horse was still a bit green and didn't want to go through the gap, Christophe Soumillon who rode him that day was adamant he should have won the race and he absolutely loved him.

I think he's one of my most exciting three-year-olds. He's always been a big unit and on top of that he was green and babyish so I've got big hopes for him, if not big plans quite yet. I entered in the German Derby and the French Derby so I might look at travelling to France before that.

He's a lovely horse, he's closely related to Danceteria and has the same sort of profile but is a much better horse than Danceteria was at the same age. Hopefully he will prove me right as I have a lot of time for him.

NUITS ST GEORGES

He's very flexible between a mile and six and two miles. He's a late developer but starting to show good levels of form. He's quite hard to place as he wants a bit of cut in the ground but I think he's still unexposed and can still win more races off his current mark.

I might try and run him over a mile and six this year depending on the programme as he's got enough pace. Two miles might just stretch him at the end.

THUNDERING BLUE

Last season in his first race at Sandown - he's not a horse that gets fit at home as he's quite lazy - he clearly needed it and came out of the race well. I thought he'd run well at Goodwood and he ran a blinder at the weights, but after that somehow he wasn't showing the same level of form in the afternoons.

He looked like he wasn't finishing his races like he used to and we gave him a full check-up without being able to find anything. In the end we had him scoped and found that he was absolutely infested with stomach ulcers and possibly that was why he wasn't able to stretch in the final furlong.

We had no indication previously as he was looking so well in his work but when we found out I just turned him out to give him the winter off and brought him back into training in March. He seems well and I can't swear that he'll get back to his best aged seven but if we can get him back to win a race I'd be over the moon.

We love him and won't put extra pressure on him as he's like a pet here and we'll do the right things with him. Fingers crossed as the signals so far have been good and he won't have a Group penalty to carry so it might be a bit easier to find races for him.

WONDERFUL TONIGHT

She's a filly that I absolutely love. She started to work really well last on last year but she was green on her debut at Doncaster. When the penny dropped she absolutely flew home to be third behind a couple of very well-regarded fillies.

I was in Australia at the time and told the owners we were unlikely to run her again after that but when I got back and gave her one piece of work I rang the owner and said she was in really good form and highlighted the race in France.

She went to Saint-Cloud on the back of two pieces of nice work and only won by a head but won quite convincingly. She was green but travelled like she was in a different league to the others and showed huge potential. The idea was to run in a trial and maybe look to the French Oaks if she shows that sort of ability.

She seems much more professional now so fingers crossed with her too.

Two-year-olds

There's a few well-bred two-year-olds and at the moment I have two greys, one of them is by Mastercraftsman and is called KELMSCOTT. He seems to be doing his work very easily and I like his attitude. He has a good action too so I'd keep an eye on him.

The other horse is called BELLOCCIO. He's by Belardo, a first-season sire, and he's quite a big horse. Despite that he's very light on his feet and seems to have the right strength in the right places.

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