Equinties - Ffos Las Saturday

Gm Equinauts

We’ve treated Ffos las like its day 1 of the Cheltenham Festival and gone through the whole damn card.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

BOUGHEY BUILDING

George Boughey has a new HQ revealed by recent communication to his owners:

“I wanted to share some exciting news with you. I’m thrilled to announce that we will be moving to Craven House Stables from Saffron House Stables. This state-of-the-art facility has been a Godolphin pre-training base since 2005 and will provide us with more space and resources to continue our progress.

This move is an important step for us. While Saffron House Stables has been a fantastic base, we’ve outgrown the space and Craven House Stables offers the opportunity to develop even further. It will allow us to enhance your experience as an owner while continuing to give our horses the very best care and facilities. The yard currently has 94 stables (soon to expand to 120) and plans are already in motion for a panoramic owners’ room and a new trotting ring. I can’t wait to welcome you; it will be a real game-changer for us all. I’ve put together a short video to give you a glimpse of Craven House Stables and what’s to come.

You can watch it here:

Thank you, as always, for your incredible support. None of this would be possible without you. I’m really looking forward to welcoming you to the yard in 2025 to show you around and of course, to continue building on our success together.

Best wishes George”

Onwards and upwards for Newmarket’s up and coming hot shot trainer.

KENNY’S GIRLS

Ask most racing fans who Kenny Alexander is, we’d imagine their first answer is that ‘guy who owns HONEYSUCKLE’ and not the cynical answer of ‘that retired bookmaker turned recreational punter enjoying the riches of tax avoidance’.

Well, now as an owner he’s building quite a reputation for his collection of useful mares who get fans excited to follow after brilliant exploits in juvenile company (stinks of Kenny building a clever breeding programme).

His now 6yo GALA MARCEAU ran brilliant races in juvenile company, both bumping into and beating LOSSIEMOUTH, which we’re sure would have helped heal the heart ache of retiring the darling of mares racing, HONEYSUCKLE. (Her last time out effort was again behind LOSSIEMOUTH, but no one else, and we’re looking forward to seeing her out again).

This season we’ve got another one of Kenny’s girls graduating from a decent record in juvenile company in KARGESE.

Retrospectively, it’s hard not to be really impressed by what she did last season.

She was second in a Grade 2 on stable debut, she beat MAJBOROUGH at the DRF, she finished second to MAJBOROUGH in the Triumph, she chased home SIR GINO at Aintree, and then she won a Grade 1 at Punchestown. That’s a hard juvenile campaign, and those are some good horses she was mixing with. So, where has she been this season? Well, much like LOSSIEMOUTH and GALA MARCEAU last season, Willie Mullins has been content to keep her at home until the new year before making her first start in open company.

In a Mares’ Hurdle division that could have or not have BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD and LOSSIEMOUTH, she looks like a very interesting angle IF she learns to do one thing. Racing manager to Alexander, Peter Maloney, explained: "She could go to Cheltenham at the end of the month possibly, or there are other options, but we will see, we just decided to give her a bit of time in the early part of the season. The Mares' is where I would have thought we are heading.

"Watching back those two races in the spring, coming to the last she was absolutely galloping over both Majborough and Sir Gino, but having pulled quite hard early, she just ran out of steam.

"If she learns to settle, I think she could be very exciting."

So, if she learns to settle, she could hit the big time over 2m4f. That, admittedly, is a big if because she showed tendencies to pull too hard, but she arguably has some of the best form in the division. If she sorts herself out, there could be some nice races for her to tackle.

Enough of the future racing, let’s look at the here and now… FFOS LAS! Let’s dive in.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • The weekender edition (Mon-Fri still free)
• • The weekends best bets
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Only £1 a week!