With a few more winners appearing over the weekend, including QATARI RIYALS and ALKHOR, it was frustrating however with seven horses finishing in the placings on both Friday and Saturday. After a great start the previous weekend, there will always be a hard task to maintain that run. At least they are running well though. QATARI RIYALS is a daughter of Kodiac and was having just her second start, having finished a nice third on debut. She toughed it out at Wolverhampton in good style and should have no problem going in again. ALKHOR is a large son of Exceed And Excel who has been running well last year with the odd bad run in the middle. This year he looks a lot stronger and that should allow him to go and win a few races on the bounce.
Today’s racing comes from Nottingham and Kempton. Richard is having his first Frankel runner in the shape of TANGO FIRE. ‘He has been going well at home and I would expect him to be fairly straight here on debut. He will improve for the experience and could be a nice horse in the making.’ The old boy GEORGE WILLIAM is making his seasonal re-appearance after what was a very successful season last year capped off with a win on his last start. ‘He has come back even stronger this year and appears in rude health. I would hope he would be fairly straight and I could see him going very close under Ryan Moore.’ The other runner at the meeting is last start winner MORI YOSHINARI who looks to be a decent animal. He settled nicely last time and could be a horse to look forward to this year.
TADWEEN is the sole representative at Kempton and is making his debut. The Maiden doesn’t look overly strong on paper, with plenty of unraced horses in there. ‘He is in good order and has taken time but I would hope we will learn plenty about him today and he should go well.’