David Ord with four horses to note from the entries for Saturday's action at Newbury and Chester.
It looks like being a strong renewal of the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury – and not just numerically.
19 are in the Group Two showpiece at this stage including the Gimcrack one-two Cool Hoof Luke and Shadow Of Light, plus Aidan O’Brien’s Round Tower Stakes winner Ides Of March and his Champagne Stakes second Monumental.
We’re following the impressive Pontefract maiden winner Powerful Glory all season in a special video series and he’s heading to Berkshire and so seemingly is DEFENCE MINISTER.
In fact he must be as Wathnan Racing opted to supplement him into the race on Monday and you can understand the temptation.
The son of Too Darn Hot was a taking winner on debut at the July Course and improved again to beat Arabian Angel by a length-and-a-half at Haydock earlier this month.
He’s an important horse for trainer Hamad Al Jehani in his first season with a licence in Britain and would be a very significant winner for the team were he to pass this Saturday test.
She was one of the best sprinting two-year-old fillies of last season and it’s interesting to see RELIEF RALLY’s name appear among the entries for the Dubai International Airport World Trophy Stakes on the same card.
Any lingering Classic aspirations connections may have held over the winter ended when she was a soundly-beaten fourth in the Fred Darling on her reappearance but dropped back in trip for the Carnarvon Stakes in May she was much happier, chasing home Elite Status.
She hasn't been seen since but holds an entry in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint in October and Saturday is potentially a big day for her.
Kieran Shoemark is heading to Chester on Saturday, primarily to partner BURRITO in the opening Protos Networks Novice Stakes.
We’ve only seen the son of Lope De Vega on the racecourse once before, and he made a taking impression when hitting the front inside the final furlong to beat Rhetorical by half-a-length at Newmarket in June.
A half-brother to Epictetus and Jumbly, he could be destined for better things and it’s interesting to see the Gosden stable also have Watts to Freedom in the race. He’s owned by Wathnan Racing, cost 800,000 guineas at Tattersalls Book 2 in October 2022 but has yet to race.
He doesn’t have as sexy a profile as those mentioned above but there’s no doubting QITAAL is one of the key runners this weekend.
As things stand he’s going to be the final mount of Franny Norton’s career in the closing Roman Walls Handicap.
The King of the Roodee announced on Sunday evening that he is heading into retirement off the back of this meeting and his final ride is in many ways a fitting one.
The five-year-old is a teak-tough, Johnston-trained handicapper who went close under Saturday’s jockey over course-and-distance in July. He didn’t get home stepped up to a mile-and-a-half at York last time and won't be lacking for assistance from the saddle at the weekend. Norton’s mounts never were.
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