With the lighter evenings and warmer days slowly creeping into our lives its time to start making some changes in our racing thoughts. Yes its finally time for the tweed to go away, Walsh and McCoy can start to take things a bit easier and we can swap one all-powerful Irish trainer with a jockey son for another - the Flat is back. Now the Aintree festival and the Grand National have passed and flat action on the turf has begun I certainly feel more able to switch codes, rather than after the Lincoln when we still have a big festival to come. I appreciate there are still a number of big jumps fixtures to come but with the Guineas trials starting this coming weekend I'm going to start my flat build-up in earnest.
Tuesday saw the launch of the 2014 Qipco British Champions Series, the biggest new initiative this year being the introduction of the Balmoral Handicap, a £250,000 mile race and now the richest mile handicap in Europe. This really shows the determination of the organisers to ensure that the Champions Series is a success, and the British Champions Day held in October really could be some spectacle this year. Of course it is always going to be hard with the Arc and the Breeders Cup already firmly in position around this time of the year but I certainly want to see British Champions Day succeed and the organisers certainly seem to be giving it every chance of doing so.
Looking a bit closer in the future its hard to believe the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, the first Classics of the flat season, will have come and gone by this time next month! This weekend sees the first big trial for the 2000 Guineas and at the time of writing the Greenham Stakes at Newbury is shaping up to be an absolute cracker. Kingman, John Gosden's unbeaten colt, will try and follow in the footsteps of Frankel as he contest the 7f race but he will face a stern test including the likes of Night of Thunder, another unbeaten colt whom trainer Richard Hannon thinks will love the soft ground at the track this weekend and Berkshire, a hugely impressive winner of the Chesham stakes last year. Richard Fahey is represented by Parbold and is one of the trainers big hopes for this season, although the trainer admits on his website there are doubts over the 1 mile Guineas trip which could see him try the Craven as opposed to this trial (being over 1 mile and the Newmarket track). Other horses coming here having already achieved high ratings in their two year old career's include Hidden Oasis, Be Ready, Anjaal, Astaire and Supplicant. For me this will definitely be a race to take a watching brief on, I am really keen to see if Kingman can continue the upward profile he started last season as his debut win even after blowing the start marked him down as a horse of tremendous potential. The clash between him and Australia (the second best O'Brien has ever trained apparently....) in the 2000 Guineas is tremendously exciting and a great way to start the flat season.
We also see the girls given a chance to stake their 1000 Guineas claims on Saturday in the Fred Darling stakes, also over the 7f trip. Rizeena won't be taking up her entry here though, instead opting to go straight to the Guineas after pleasing the fantastic Clive Brittain in her work, so much so that he even felt obliged to do one of his famous jiggs after seeing his filly in action! She is currently contesting favouritism for the 1000 Guineas with O'Brien's Tapestry, and in her absence Al Thakhira, ridden by newly retained Frankie Dettori, is the best of the rest in the ante-post market. It will be interesting to see if anything can produce a performance to jump in the betting after this weekend especially as a good deal of these fillies will be trying the step up in trip for the first time. Last year's winner of this race (Maureen) went on to finish 6th in the race it serves as a trial for so this race can certainly be used as a springboard to a decent performance in May.
Up at Ayr we have the Scottish National, in which the presence of Tidal Bay means that only 9 other horses would actually be in the handicap proper! If he comes out of the race the weights will be going up 19lbs so it might be worth waiting to see if the popular (although no longer with Donald McCain!) veteran takes his chance here or waits for Sandown before having a betting interest. I really hope Goldsmejudge takes his chance here as I did fancy Alan King's horse for the Grand National before it was decided to wait with the horse and as a previous winner of this race I hope he can continue his good record here. He will actually be carrying less weight this year is Tidal Bay lines up, a crazy thought especially when you see it would be 12lbs lower, and Alan King's horses appear to be benefiting from the enforced break over the winter as they are fresher than other horses at this late stage of the season. Wayne Hutchinson is in line to take the ride having been in the saddle for last year's success and Wayne continues to be one of the most underrated jockeys in the weighing room for me, I hope he can add another big race success to his collection.
I certainly won't be advising this weekend to start your flat racing betting, however it does look one to watch and re-watch in the company of a pen and notepad in the hope of seeing some hot performances we can take into the rest of the season. Best get started early to give ourselves the best chance!
Once again thanks for reading and good luck!
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