Equinties - a 'life-changing' horse

Gm Equinauts

We knew it wouldn’t take long for the racing world to clock that LUTHER is a very good horse.

Our new hire Norm put us on to him on debut where his ability overcame his evident greenness to turn over a heavily odds-on horse of Hannon’s and win at 15/2 (a welcome winner for Norm who either hits a hot streak or a cold spell. Catch him on his next run - hopefully starting today).

We followed LUTHER in on his second race in Listed company when again, he showed inexperience by becoming unbalanced in the key stages of the race and couldn’t get past one of Andrew Balding’s best 2yo’s in NEW CENTURY. A tough watch, especially for those too short-sighted to understand they’ll get their lost stakes back on him eventually.

And that day was Saturday in Haydock’s Listed Ascendant Stakes.

LUTHER looked brilliant and only confirmed Fellowes’ unbridled enthusiasm for his ‘life-changing’ horse.

But as Matt Chapman rightly suggests, Fellowes’ next moves could define the careers of both LUTHER…and his own.

Chapman has pitched up two options - the Royal Lodge and the Dewhurst. At this moment in time, given how easily he ate up the ground Saturday, the Royal Lodge over a mile is surely the go to.

LUTHER’s pedigree is littered with helpful clues to guide Charlie’s decision-making process so he won’t need to go to the extent of investigative efforts like his horses namesake, Detective John Luther.

His dam sire is CITYSCAPE who was placed second in the 2008’s ROYAL LODGE - that’s one nod to the Royal Lodge and if you look deeper into his page, his dam is out of a half to a brilliant stayer, the late FAME AND GLORY, who finished second behind SEA THE STARS in the 2009 Epsom Derby. LUTHER isn’t the biggest horse in the world but he’ll grow and his page suggests he should train on to be a proper middle distance 3yo.

The loud cries from the likes of Matt Chapman for Charlie to be brave and race the horse at top level will be echoed by the racing public but Charlie needs to be considered when planning LUTHER’s future. He will need to avoid being influenced by the excitable thoughts in his head and try to be patient. Rushing this horse won’t unearth the long-term potential LUTHER’s page is predicting he might own.

Our thoughts?

Look after him and think of the future. Go win the the Royal Lodge, put him away, feed him, bring him back as a 3yo and run him in the Guineas as prep for the the race he’s bred for - the Derby - and try go one better than his close relation FAME AND GLORY did!

This will be a road not dissimilar to CITY OF TROY (who went to the Dewhurst rather than ROYAL LODGE) and honestly, Charlie Fellowes would lose no pride in trying to tap up Aidan O’Brien for a bit of advice on the best way to get him there.

Go visit Coolmore, Charlie!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

GOING TO GET THEM

The St Leger has creeped up on us rather quickly and now we are just four days away from the final British Classic of the year.

Five-day confirmations usually go as is expected, but yesterday saw a couple of surprises, the first of which from the Godolphin camp.

ANCIENT WISDOM, the impressive Bahrain Trophy winner, will miss the race in favour of an Autumn campaign for “favoured ground conditions”. A brave call as it’s currently good ground and with a sprinkle of rain predicted on Wednesday. That said, it is nice to see trainers act with consideration to the pedigree - not enough do and we’re quite sure we’d see better strike rates if they did.

As for the other surprise, YOU GOT TO ME - second in the Yorkshire Oaks on her last start - has been supplemented. A very intriguing move by the Beckett brigade.

The NATHANIEL filly comes form a nice family of stamina as ZIGGY, her half-brother, has had a great season over the extended trips (1m4f) and her dam won a Listed race over the same distance.

She’s stayed on through the line on her last two starts over 1m4f and, to be honest, this year’s Leger doesn’t look like a vintage renewal.

She could very well be the classy angle and she gets 7lbs from the boys for her troubles.

RETURNING FRENCH FILLY

For the last two years, it’s been pretty clear that RAMATUELLE is a good filly for Christopher Head, but that illusive Group 1 win is still yet to come her way.

She came very close in the 1000 Guineas and then ran a good race in the Coronation Stakes, a race that has worked out nicely with PORTA FORTUNA and OPERA SINGER.

Well, she hasn’t been seen since, but her return to the track is on the way as she is set to return in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret next month.

Maybe don’t expect her to be on her top game though as connections have their eyes on a race later this year.

Trainer Christopher Head said: “She's doing fine and she's preparing for the Prix de la Foret which will be her next race. She's had a bit of break because we have a programme running until the Breeders' Cup, so we will use the Foret as a preparation to go out there afterwards.

“She's just a brilliant filly, a really, really nice daughter of Justify. She was a tremendous two-year-old who almost won the Guineas this season. Everything's great with her–so far so good.”

She’s a good horse and she will be very exciting for the back end of this season.

PORTA VS THE ANGEL

Speaking of returning fillies, we have two of them clashing in the Matron Stakes this weekend on Irish Champions Weekend… and we can’t wait.

Donnacha O’Brien is sticking to the plan he dreamt up after PORTA FORTUNA’s victory in the Falmouth Stakes in July - Matron onto the Sun Chariot onto the Breeders’ Cup.

She’ll probably come on for it, but she’ll be a touch sharper than the other returning filly FALLEN ANGEL.

Having won the Irish Guineas this year, she’s had a few setbacks which kept her away from Royal Ascot, but Karl Burke is ready to bring her back in Ireland this weekend.

She’ll sport the new silks of Wathnan Racing, but even her new connections know she’ll potentially be lacking fitness.

Wathnan's racing adviser Richard Brown said: "She's clearly a very exciting recruit and a top-class filly. She's coming back off a break so I'm sure she'll come on for the run, but Karl said she worked very well on Friday and we're very much looking forward to seeing her.

"She was very impressive in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and has showed herself to be high class.”

RISK ON

No bets today but have eye’s on FORMAL in the 15.10 who looked quite exciting on debut. She’s very well bred and should have an exciting future.

There are some good one’s coming up this week - stay tuned.

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!