Star Quality

Across the pond, I enjoyed watching the coverage of the Breeder’s Cup from Santa Anita.  Despite it not being the best of weekends for Europe it is always a meeting that I take a keen interest in.  As usual there were the odd hard luck stories with both Sky Lantern and The Fugue in particular looking unlucky not to score.  But it was the juveniles that led the way for Europe with Mike Delzangles’ Flotilla landing the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Aidan O’Brien’s George Vancouver winning the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf.   It is always difficult to win abroad, no matter whereabouts you are racing and the Breeders Cup meeting comes at the end of a hard European season – add to that the sharp nature and very fast surfaces at tracks like Santa Anita and I cannot overstate what a great performance it is for any overseas winner.

Last week I spent a few days up at the Newmarket Horses In Training Sales and had an interesting time.  As usual a number of lots attracted some very extravagant bids, and while I returned home with only one new inmate, I am satisfied that he is a good-value purchase.  Cellist, a three year old winning son of Godolphin ace Halling is a good looking, athletic type who looks tailor-made for hurdles and I cannot wait to get cracking with him.  He should make his mark in juvenile hurdles this season and is looking for an owner at present, so if you are interested please get into contact with my office on 01884 840715 or via e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further details.

Hopefully Cellist will go on to be a star of the future, but I cannot write this blog without making reference to the retirement of a great star of the past.  I am of course referring to Kauto Star who was retired last week – he has been a magnificent horse down the years becoming the only horse to regain his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown, while also landing an unprecedented.  He has done wonders for our sport and we have been lucky to see him in action – congratulations to connections on a wonderful career…he will be impossible to replace.

It looks like being a busy day tomorrow (Tuesday) with owners’ visits in the morning, racing at Exeter in the afternoon and a questions and answers session on Twitter tomorrow evening.  At Exeter E Street Boy (pictured right) makes his long awaited reappearance following an absence of over 500 days – when he was last seen in action he quickly recorded a four-timer over hurdles during the Spring of 2011.  He has schooled well over the larger obstacles and while he has only four rivals to beat it looks like being a hot novices’ chase with high class horses such as Hinterland and Peckhamecho in opposition.  Hopefully this run tomorrow will give him a nice confidence boost and he will be eligible for a handicap mark over fences next time.  It is very early days (the novices’ chase rules have only been altered this season) but it will be interesting to see when the first set of figures are available if the number of runners in these contests has actually increased.

I am a great believer in trying to make the sport of horse racing more accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they are potential owners or not.  The more people that have an interest in our sport, the better and as such I will be appearing in a Twitter questions and answers session on Tuesday evening from 5.30pm onwards and will be happy to answer any burning questions you may have for me…simply tweet your question to @racing_post using the hashtag #rpqa or alternatively e-mail: rpqa@racing post.com – I look forward to hearing what is on your minds.  However, please do not ask me where Grands Crus is going to run, at the moment the answer is I really do not know!   Entries for his other option, the Betfair Chase at Haydock only close tomorrow and it will not be until we have taken a close look at the entries for both races and discussed it with the owners that we will make an informed decision of where we go with him.

We have a number of entries throughout the week ahead, but it really does look to be an exciting weekend, especially at Wincanton where they play host to the Elite Hurdle, Badger Ales Chase and Rising Stars Novices’ Chase on Saturday.  We have entered War Singer and Street Entertainer in the Elite Hurdle, Tamarinbleu and The Package in the Badger Ales and exciting novice chase prospect Dynaste (pictured left) in the Grade Two Rising Stars.  Dynaste will receive other entries as well, but he will be making his eagerly awaited chase debut very shortly.  As usual you can keep up to date with all the latest running plans by checking Chester’s Daily Chat…