Martin Dixon of the Horse Watchers takes you through the team's two runners on Saturday and reflects on an impressive victory for Royal Zabeel.
Dash Gordon - 14:35 Newcastle
Dash Gordon's been ready to run for a while but we wanted to wait for January with him because he's rated 50 and we knew the classified races would be an option for us, and there's a lot more of them in January and February compared to the early part of the all-weather season.
He won last time out over course and distance on his final start for Alex French, and we were obviously sufficiently impressed to buy him. We thought he showed a high cruising speed and he quickened well through the penultimate furlong to win with a good bit in hand. When we watched that we felt he had a good bit of untapped potential.
He's been working well in relation to his mark. He's not going to be a superstar but he shows more ability on the gallops than a 50 rating. He's fit and ready to go and I'm pretty optimistic he'll be in the mix. He's got a good form chance in what is obviously an ordinary race, and he's one of the least exposed in the field.
I suppose his record has been a bit inconsistent so we want to see him back up that last performance but if he reproduces that I think it will probably be good enough to win.
Sanat - 15:15 Chelmsford
Keeping an eye on the entries it became clear it wasn't going to be the biggest field and, given the money on offer, we thought it was worth having a shot off a very light weight with Sanat.
It might be that he's not up to this class of race at this moment, but he obviously shaped with a good deal of promise at Newcastle last week. He's 3 lb out of the weights but we're taking 7 lb off with Mason Paetel who has had only one winner but has a good background from the pony racing circuit and we think he's an accomplished jockey for his 7 lb.
We could have had a better draw - it's a bit of a shame he's towards the outside - but it looks like there will be a strong pace on so, providing he can slot in, I'd expect him to run a nice race and he has an each-way chance.
Thrilled with progressive Royal Zabeel
I really liked how straightforward it was for Royal Zabeel at Wolverhampton on Monday (replay below). He was a very simple ride for Ali [Rawlinson] who got him out and into a good position. He relaxed well, quickened off the bend and made it all look very straightforward. The fact he seems to be maturing into a horse who races in a very amenable manner will always stand him in good stead.
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There's another of those seven-furlong handicaps at Southwell in the middle of February he'll be aimed at, and after that it's very likely he'll go for the Lady Wulfruna listed race at Wolverhampton in early March. Given the progress he's making and the way he's going about his wins, we think he can be competitive in listed races, at least, on the all-weather.
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