The Horse Watchers | Weekend preview and reflections

Rhoscolyn runs at Haydock where they’ve had a bit of rain and the ground is on the softer side of good. His record speaks for itself and he’s pretty much become a proper soft-ground horse now and the more rain that falls at Haydock the better his chance will be. He’s rated in excess of 100 which doesn’t make life easy but as long as the going is properly soft he can still win off that mark as he handles that ground so much better than a lot of other horses. I’d draw a line through Royal Ascot. We went there to roll the dice and he didn’t disgrace himself but the ground was just too fast for him. When the ground is right he’ll have another win in him this year.

Helter Skelter – 20:20 Carlisle

We’re also hoping they have plenty of rain at Carlisle for Helter Skelter. There’s a mixed forecast but rain will be important for him and if they don’t get it he might not run. He’ll have a visor on him on Saturday as last time he sort of lost his position early in the straight and it was quite remarkable that he managed to rally and finish second. Hopefully the visor helps him hold his position a bit better when the pace is quickening. He’s got quite a bit more ability than his mark and it’s a case of the softer the ground the better, and hopefully the addition of more severe headgear will coax a bit more out of him. He’s a well-handicapped horse and should be winning soon when he gets the right circumstances.

Coming up

It was good to see Zealot run a much more encouraging race at Chelmsford where he finished third and it was easily his best run of the year. He was very competitive for a long way and kept rallying to the line, and it was a performance that showed us he’s still got an engine. Hopefully that’s a building block to getting him back to where he was last winter. He’s still got the enthusiasm and it was good to see him battle to the line and keep going. He will run on Sunday at Chelmsford and we know the course and distance suit him really well. If he can build on that more positive run last time he’s a very well handicapped horse on what he was doing last year.

We’ll keep an eye on a race at Chelmsford on Sunday for Zozimus but if he doesn’t go there then there’s a mile-and-a-quarter handicap at York next Friday or a mile handicap at Pontefract the following week. He was unlucky at York last time. I keep saying that he’s ready to win when things drop right, but they haven’t quite dropped right just yet. He’s holding his form extremely well and when he gets a clearer run than at York last time he’s ready to win.

Penzance has the option of going to Leopardstown on Thursday or to the John Smith’s Cup at York on the Saturday. That will be a decision for early next week. The race in Ireland might just be a little less competitive so we wanted to have the option. He’s in very good form. Ali [Rawlinson] rides him a lot in his work at home and thinks he’s stepped forward on his York run which was on the back of a little break, and Mick’s horses are really thriving again now after a slightly quieter spell. Wherever we go I’d expect him to step forward on his York run and that was a decent enough effort.

Among the winners

Island Native has been like the perfect syndicate horse. He’s improved 17 lb since we bought him, he’s won three races, he’s super consistent and tough and takes his racing tremendously well. He was seen to quite good effect when winning at Beverley last week as it’s a track that suits the prominent tactics that are ideal for this horse, and Jason gave him an excellent ride from a wide draw as he managed to get him to the front early and then saved a bit on the bend. It was a good, tough, typical Island Native performance. He’s got an entry at Chelmsford on Sunday but is probably more likely to go to Pontefract on Tuesday. He’s very genuine, straightforward and consistent and the way that he held them off at Beverley, beating some in-form horses, I’d like to think there’s still another win or two in him.

Cymbidium made her debut on the same card as Island Native and was runner-up. The race, admittedly, wasn’t that competitive with only four runners, but she was the only newcomer and we were really pleased with that start. She still has a fair of growing and filling out to do, but she showed a real enthusiasm for racing and got herself to the front and you wouldn’t have guessed she was the newcomer. In the preliminaries she was taking it all in and you could see a few times she was spooked by the crowd, so I think from that point of view having a racecourse experience will have been beneficial and hopefully we can see some improvement from her. We’ll try to find a similar maiden or novice that she can hopefully go one better in.

We’d messed up with Daring Legend in the spring by rushing him a little bit through March to get to AW Finals Day. We’ve been a lot more patient with him subsequent to that busy spell and that Newbury win last week was that approach paying dividends. He’s still a big, unfurnished and quite green horse, even though he’s had quite a bit of racing, and physically he’s going to keep on improving, while to some extent he’s still learning his job. He was game in the finish but I think he had a little bit up his sleeve as every time he was tackled he kept finding a bit more. The time of the race was good and it was nice to see him win over seven furlongs as it opens the option to switch between six and seven, but for the time being I think we’ll keep him to seven furlongs and flat tracks. The handicapper only put him up 2 lb and I think he’s better than that, so hopefully he keeps on the right path.

Escarpment had been a disappointment but he’s come down the weights and he seems to have found his form. Fitting blinkers has made a difference to how he’s racing as he seems more enthusiastic. He’s still pretty lazy and idle, which is why he’s got the blinkers on, but at Musselburgh he was always doing enough to hold them even though he’d taken it up quite a long way from home. I thought Jason [Watson] gave him an excellent ride – he was very strong and kept him focused late on when he needed to. He was placed in the winter off a mark of 65 and he won off 56 at Musselburgh so there’s still some mileage in his mark. It will be a case of trying to find those lower-grade races that don’t have many runners and don’t ask as much of him.

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