Zwelela
Good Friday was All-Weather Championships day at Lingfield Park and saw ARAFI and MUMS TIPPLE contest the AW Fillies’ And Mares’ and Mile Conditions Stakes respectively.
Having notched up a couple of wins on the all weather over the winter ARAFI arrived at the Championships in good order and duly delivered another solid performance to finish a creditable third beaten only half a length under Sean Levey.
Off the back of his comeback win at Wolverhampton we were excited to see how MUMS TIPPLE would handle stepping back up in trip to one mile. He settled well under Sean Levey and ran a lovely race to finish second clear of the rest of the field.
Easter Monday saw us gain our first two year old winner of the year courtesy of DUKEBOX for J K Powell Racing. Prominent throughout under Sean Levey he led inside the final two furlongs and despite being headed showed real tenacity to fight back to lead again close home and win by a head. It’s always a relief to get off the mark with the two year olds and this lad has done everything right at home so it was good to see him transfer that to the track.
ZWELELA completed the double by scoring up at Wolverhampton under Rossa Ryan – her second win in as many runs. Having won well on her penultimate run she got a fair hike from the handicapper but she has clearly taken another step forward as she won this without much ado. She is lightly raced so is only just getting into the swing of things; we hope there will be more to come as she goes back onto the turf over the summer. Congratulations to owners Al Shaqab Racing and connections.