Equinties - big talk

Gm Equinauts

What a combo!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUND UP

BIG TALK

It’s fair to say that Ed Walker is in a bit of a catch-22 situation with ALMAQAM right now. Why? Easy.

The Lambourn-based trainer has correctly identified him as a horse who likes cut in the ground. Rather than trying him on quick ground to see if this theory is true, he’s kept him waiting on the side-lines all season, just waiting for the rain to fall.

You have to respect this patience. Unfortunately for him, this season has been one of the driest in recent memory, so he has been on the side-lines ever since his impressive success over OMBUDSMAN in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown earlier this season.

Doesn’t that piece of form look really good now, ay?

So, what has this led to? Well, Walker has campaigned him towards several Group 1 races since, notably the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and Coral-Eclipse, but he has had to pull the plug at the final moment.

This involved him speaking to the press about the situation, and in most of these chats, he has doubled down on precisely what he thinks of the horse. In as many words, he thinks he will win a Group 1 this season.

And fair play for doing this. It would be easy to get disheartened at the lack of racing for his stable star, but Walker has continued to keep the faith in the hopes of him becoming this potential Group 1 star. Because of these respective quotes over the last few months, Walker is now in a bit of a tricky situation that we do not envy at all.

Without actually running, ALMAQAM has turned into a bit of a hype horse that now needs to show his worth on the track, and this is horse racing, after all. He could turn up and show his true ability, or he could massively disappoint. That’s the risk of hyping up horses that need certain conditions.

Anyway, he will finally get to race this week, as Walker is happy to let him take his chance in the Group 2 York Stakes on Saturday.

On a pre-Glorious Goodwood press day, he said: "We’ve always thought the world of him. He’s seriously exciting and when you have high expectations and hopes, that's when the nerves kick in. It makes me nervous just talking about it.

"Most of my best horses have raced at a mile or less, so he’s definitely the best mile-plus horse I’ve had by a long way, certainly as a colt. Dreamloper was a good miler, and Scenic is a very good middle-distance filly.

"He’s very special and has the most wonderful temperament. I’ll be very disappointed if he finishes his career without winning a Group 1. He deserves a place at stud, people should breed from him, because he’s got everything you’d want in a racehorse."
Bullish.

This will be his first run for 58 days, but it appears as if he has been on the go for much of that time at home. Race fitness is obviously key, and he may come on for this a little bit, but we imagine that he will be very close to his best on Saturday.

Furthermore, the York Stakes doesn’t look overly good. STANHOPE GARDENS hasn’t been seen since his fifth in the Derby (but he does get weight from his elders), PERSICA hasn’t won in Group 2 company before, AL AASY sets a good standard as a 114 horse, and BAY CITY ROLLER does still need to prove himself a little bit more.

This Saturday looks like a perfect place for ALMAQAM to turn Walker’s hype into reality.

WEATHER WATCH

ALMAQAM may be the up-and-coming Group 1 horse that needs slower ground, but ANMAAT has been a pioneer of this in recent seasons.
Firstly, he is a proper horse, no question about that. There were opinions flying about on Racing X after last season’s Champion Stakes that his success was a bit of a fluke.

Comments like ‘how did CALANDAGAN not win’ and ‘that’s a horrid beat’ were fairly common on the timeline, and that’s just from the Blogger!

But, as we said at the time, just look at where ANMAAT came from. Yes, CALANDAGAN didn’t get the easiest run through, but ANMAAT had a worse trip and he still won. It was a pretty remarkable effort!

Furthermore, just to confirm that this was no fluke, he went on to give LOS ANGELES a proper race in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on his seasonal reappearance before finishing second to OMBUDSMAN in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on rattling quick ground.
He honestly looked like the winner with one furlong to go, but one horse relished in the conditions, and one disliked them.

Immediately after the Prince Of Wales’s, Owen Burrows was pretty transparent about how he will campaign the horse going forward. He said he was happy to run on quick ground, but only once or twice in a season in order to protect him. The rest of his runs would, hopefully, occur on slower ground.

Fast forward to this week, and Burrows’ eyes have been lighting up in his Lambourn office. Why? Well, quite simply, we’ve had rain.

Much like Walker with ALMAQAM, he now has the chance to run him if the conditions persist. However, unlike his fellow Berkshire-based trainer, the target he has in mind for his stable star is not this week.

In fact, it is the Juddmonte International on August 20th. So, he will need a bit more help from the gods in order to get him there, but he still optimistic, and whatever happens in the meantime, the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October will be his ‘Gold Cup’.

He said: “The Juddmonte International is the aim, as long as the ground is suitable. He’s in good nick; fingers crossed what we’ve had for an hour or two now will be around at the time of York.

“He’s run belters this season. You certainly can’t say he’s going backwards. I’ve not lost any faith at all.

“Obviously, Ascot in October is his main target, so we’re working back from that, but if the ground is suitable at York or in Ireland as well, fingers crossed we can pitch him into one of those.”

Like ALMAQAM, he has nice form with OMBUDSMAN, who has since gone on to nearly win the Coral-Eclipse. These form lines are starting to harden up as we enter the second half of the season, and a horse like ANMAAT looks like a horse to take to war in these big remaining Group 1s.

TARGETS GALORE

Finally, there are two fairly high-profile horses that have had a few targets chucked their way by their respective trainers, so it’s only right to mention it here.

Firstly, and more notably, Roger Varian has started to formulate a plan for MY CLOUD after a dirty scope kept him out of the Group 2 Summer Mile Stakes at Ascot earlier this month.

From one “Mile” race to another, as it’s now the Group 2 Celebration Mile that is being considered for the Royal Hunt Cup winner.

Chris Wall, racing manager to owner KHK Racing, said: “We had to take him out of the Summer Mile because he scoped dirty and he’s had treatment for that,” said Chris Wall, racing manager to owners KHK Racing.

“He’s still not quite ready to race yet. We had hoped he’d be ready to run in a Listed race at Pontefract this weekend, but that’s not going to be the case.

“We’re looking at races at the end of August, we’ve got in mind the Celebration Mile at Goodwood and the Prix Quincey at Deauville at about the same time.”

For just a dirty scope on July 12th, that is mildly concerning that he still isn’t ready to race, so it suggests that his setback wasn’t as minor as just a snotty nose. Still, we wouldn’t be getting too concerned.

The other horse to mention is SEE THE FIRE, who is looking to rebuild on her third-place effort in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.

Her run was actually a little bit weird. She sat in fourth, which was far enough through the back to not get burnt out by the ferocious pace, but when she came to make her challenge up the rail, she didn’t come home in the same manner as her run suggested.

Anyway, it wasn’t a total disaster, and connections are looking to get another Group 1 under the belt, this time back against her own sex.

Andrew Balding said: “She’s a beautifully-bred filly, by Sea The Stars, who won a Juddmonte International, out of Arabian Queen, who also won a Juddmonte International.

“She’s always looked a very smart filly. As a three-year-old, we didn’t really see the best of her until we got to the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, where she was narrowly beaten.

“We thought she ran a super race at Ascot, against the boys, in the Prince of Wales’s. She’s had a little break since then with the view to preparing her for the Nassau again, and hopefully going one better than we did last year.

“The Prince of Wales’s this year was run at a ferocious gallop and it suited the closers. In hindsight, we rode her to sit in behind Los Angeles, and focus on beating him, which left us vulnerable at the end of the race. Having said that, they’re top-class horses and we might not have beaten them whatever we’d done.

“It was still a career-best performance, and she’ll have an easier time, you’d have thought, against her own sex, in the Nassau. It’s never easy at Group One level, but she’s going there in great shape.”

She, quite obviously, has a leading chance in the Nassau.

STATS OF THE DAY

Kittow is just shy of a 1 in 3 strike rate with older horses in handicaps at Salisbury. He sends NOTRE MAISON to the 16.20 with Hornby riding who is 2 from 2 for him at course.

RISK ON

A no bet day yesterday after the rollercoaster of Monday. Today we’re picking the tools up again…

15.00 SPORTING LIGHT

Love the look of this lad stepped up in trip on soft. Taking on a shortie for Shaggas so ideally would have liked to play this ew but price squeeze means a small single at 100/30.

17.15 FLASH OF FIRE

Ferguson thinks this girl is quite smart. She hasn’t come off the bridle at home but her half sister was a good worker too yet was a bit piggy on the racetrack. We’re trusting FLASH OF FIRE doesn’t have that same mental trait and can show exactly what she’s made of today. 6/5 single and add to ROYAL FIXATION ante-post.

17.00 CROCODILE POWER

Gets his conditions and should go well. Faves chance at 5/2-9/4.