stodge

All most amusing but back to more important matters and another nice filly for the future at Deauville: Prix des Marettes: This was a 1500m race for unraced juveniles. KELINA is by Frankel out of an Oasis Dream mare - she's a half to a Listed filly called ANSILIA who has run at up to 2000m. As they say, she could be anything.

Plenty with which to catch up from my holiday. Starting with the final day at Goodwood and the Group 2 Lillie Langtry over 2800m for the staying fillies and mares saw SEA LA ROSA come home in front at the end of a real stamina test. URBAN ARTIST had led early but kicked on from 1000m down and was a good ten lengths up with 800m to go. SEA LA ROSA was closer than EMILY DICKENSON on whom frankly Ryan Moore had a bit of a mare. He got far too far out of his ground and when the pace collapsed it was all too late. SEA LA ROSA does nothing quickly but a stamina slog is right up her street

Back from a very pleasant week's break in the Lake District, a gorgeous part of the world and I'd thoroughly recommend a visit for anyone from NZ in the UK. I'll catch up on the events of my absence in later posts including Tuesday's Rothschild at Deauville and today's Phoenix at The Curragh. Tomorrow sees the Maurice de Gheest over 1300m at Deauville and in some ways this is France's version of the July Cup or the Platinum Jubilee. The visitors are here in strength for the £183,000 pot. Overnight favourite is Platinum Jubilee winner and July Cup runner up NAVAL CROWN who ran solid r

Day Four of the Goodwood Festival and strangely among festivals the quality deteriorates over time. The first three days all have Group 1 races - the last two don't. Day One has a group 1 and two group 2 races - Days Four and Five just have a single Group 2. Goodwood isn't Royal Ascot and doesn't pretend to be - it's more like the Newmarket July Festival with a couple of extra days added. It's what it is and oddly enough the crowds increase as the week goes on. Anyway, the feature on the Friday was the King George Qatar Stakes, a Group 2 over 1000m. The sprinting division up he

Happy to debate this with you. Not sure I agree - both the Eclipse and the King George had small but high quality fields and if you count the Irish and French Group 1 races there are occasionally similar races in direct competition. The 3-y-os appear to be a mixed bunch - VADEMI and NASHWA have turned out decent and have beaten their elders. We probably won't see DESERT CROWN this season and the jury is still out on CORROEBUS. We have an exceptional older horse in BAAEED - by many measures, the best since FRANKEL - at 1600m and 2000m. The Goodwood Cup was an excellent staying r

Time to look back on Day 3 at Goodwood. The weather remained dry but cloudy and the ground, helped by overnight watering, remained Good to Firm, Good in places. The feature was the third and final Group 1 of the meeting, the Nassau, over 2000m for the fillies and mares. It's the first main inter-generational clash for the female horses at this distance. Favourite was the 3-y-o NASHWA, who had failed to stay when third in the English Oaks but had followed up in the Diane at Chantilly. She went off at 6/5 - the older contingent didn't look that strong with the best of them probabl

VERRY ELLEEGANT taken out of the Rothschild this morning - just 7 left in Tuesday's first Group 1 race of the Deauville August Festival. TENEBRISM and SAFFRON BEACH both stand in another intriguing clash of the generations.

Very good call, my friend. KHAADEM did it well. Yes, he was deemed a non-runner after getting agitated in the stalls, rearing back and leaving his jockey in the superstructure. That's the rule over here - not the same in all jurisdictions - so if you back the horse you get your money back. He raced with the field and crossed the line with NATURE STRIP but he was carrying 9 stone less than the winner so from a handicapping point of view not significant.

@poundforpoundgives me a good lead in to the review of day two at Goodwood. Once again, a dry but cloudy afternoon and the ground was changed after the first to Good to Firm, Good in places. The day's feature was the Group 1 Sussex over 1600m. A small field and the race was undoubtedly diluted by the late defection of the 2000 Guineas winner CORROEBUS whose setback appears minor and who is now heading for the Marois at Deauville next month. BAAEED, the best horse in the world on some measures, went off 1/6 not that he was facing a field of tenth-rate animals. ALCOHOL FREE had wo

BAAEED is very good no question and arguably the best since FRANKEL but he'll need to prove it over 2000m at York and presumably Ascot. If he does, he'll go off to stud as a real prospect and Shadwell could be on the cusp of a real re-generation if BAAEED can start producing some good progeny. NASHWA could be one who is visited by BAAEED one day and she did it well in the Nassau this afternoon. On Saturday, 8 go in the 2800m Group 2 Lillie Langtry for the fillies and mares. Only two 3-y-os of whom EMILY DICKENSON is the better. She was well held in both the Lingfield Oaks Trial and t

Time to look back on the first day of the Goodwood Festival which took place on a cool, cloudy but dry afternoon. A little recent natural irrigation and copious watering had produced an excellent surface which rode Good with some Good to Firm places. Trainer Alan King walked the course and declared TRUESHAN a runner in the Goodwood Cup ensuring the mouth watering clash between the three top stayers in the division currently. Favourite was Gold Cup winner KYPRIOS, very much the young pretender as a 4-y-o. TRUESHAN was next in at 2s - he had won last year's renewal of the Goodwood Cup when

Galway is often used by the top Irish yards to introduce their better horses. For those unfamiliar, they race seven consecutive days at Ballybrit, outside Galway City, a mixture of Flat and Jumping through the week. There are some huge valuable handicaps but the main races are the Galway Plate, a 4000m steeplechase run this afternoon - basically Ireland's equivalent to the big race at Warrnambool. Tomorrow, it's the Galway Hurdle over 3200m. The Plate is off in 5 minutes as I type, they go 9/2 the field. There are a few flat maidens which, as @Berrisuggests, aren't short of inte

BAAEED duly did the business in the Sussex and is clearly an exceptional horse. Friday's big race is the King George Stakes over 1000m for the speedballs. KHAADEM, mentioned by @Ohokamanis an interesting contender in what looks an open race. 11 go to post and my old mate ACKLAM EXPRESS will love the speed test - he was a fine third in the King's Stand, is top rated and is 8/1 which looks a knocking each way price. On the numbers, the field is closely matched - I've mentioned KHAADM but the 3-y-o MITBAAHY is very interesting. The problem I have is his last three runs were at Hamilton

KHAADEM is in the 1000m Group 2 on Friday for which he is 6/1. He also has entries in the Nunthorpe at York and the Sprint Trophy at Haydock for which he is bigger prices as you might expect. MALJOOM, who went into everyone's notebook at Ascot, is in the Celebration Mile at Goodwood at the end of August but he could still be entered for the Marois for example at Deauville. The French Group 1 races have different entry dates and forfeits.

It's similar over here if not even earlier. During the worst of the heat last week, some stables in Newmarket had first lot at 3.45am. I presume work is done early because some jockeys, trainers and horses need to travel to race courses - races over here start at 1pm or later in summer but earlier in winter. If you have evening racing in summer, it can be a very long day with horses getting back after 11pm and needing to be bedded down for the night. All stable staff get my fullest admiration for the love and the devotion they put in - they don't do it for the money. It's n