Check out what the trainers are saying ahead of Friday's two Classic trials at Lingfield.
2.40 Betsafe Top Price All Runners Oaks Trial Fillies' Stakes
Robert Havlin - Miss Yoda: “She is a filly that I know well having won on her the first two times. She is the highest-rated in the race so she goes there with a good chance, but we will find out a little bit more about her after Friday as to whether she is an Oaks filly.
“She has been pleasing us at home and whatever she does on Friday she will improve on. She can be a free-going filly in the morning, but she seems to be different in the afternoons and I think she will get the trip.
“She is quite pleasant to ride on the track and she has found a good turn of foot in the two races that she has won. The heavy ground would have worked against her in the Zetland last year (when second). Her record is flawless really.
“It is a fact-finding mission to see what level she is at. She is probably the pick of three in the race from the yard, but these fillies improve over the winter.
“She has the best form out of the three and as we saw with Star Catcher last year these fillies improve and the other two wouldn’t be in there if they didn’t have a chance.”
Charlie Johnston - West End Girl: "On her Sweet Solera win this is exactly where you would expect a filly like that to be. Her two runs at the back end in the May Hill and Fillies’ Mile were very disappointing and I don’t know why, as nothing really came to light.
"This was an obvious starting point and on pedigree the step up in trip should suit. I’m sure there are unexposed horses that will improve a lot, but we set the standard on figures as to what she achieved at Newmarket last year, although we have a couple of bad runs to put behind us."
3.15 Betsafe Derby Trial
Charlie Fellowes - King Carney: “I’m a bit concerned about the ground and I’m going to go and walk it before hand so that is a little bit of a concern. I don’t think he is as ground dependent as something like (stablemate) King Ottokar and they do a very good job at Lingfield and George (Hill, clerk of the course) will have put plenty of water on down that hill.
“If we are going to go for nice targets he has got to go on the ground so we will find out a lot. It is the right race to go for and he is the one to beat. He has a penalty but he has got a lovely way of going and he will suit the track.
“He is the sort of horse you wouldn’t know how good he is, as he is not the flashiest work horse at home, but he has done some really nice pieces of work. He is quite an exuberant horse on the racecourse and he is the same at home so all the time I’m trying to do as little as possible with him.”
Charlie Johnston - King’s Caper and Dark Heart: "Realistically King’s Caper is a horse that at the moment we don’t have Derby aspirations for, but at the same time, as is often the case with these trials, he comes out near the top on ratings and there is nowhere else to really go with a horse like him at the moment.
“On the figures he has got every right to be there. He will improve for stepping up in trip that’s for sure. He is quite a handy little horse so Lingfield will not pose him any problems. If the Derby winner is in there then it will be too good for him but he is 99-rated, he is solid and will run his race.”
"Dark Heart is a very nice horse. He should have won at Lingfield when he ran out (wide) then he beat what was put in front of him at Newcastle.
"He will find Lingfield and the trip sharp for sure but he is a lightly-raced horse. Having run about two starts ago he showed that he is still quite green mentally. I hope he is a Queen’s Vase horse.
“If there is another horse in the yard that will climb through the ranks like Sir Ron Priestley did last year he is an obvious candidate."
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