Matchbook Ambassador Hugo Palmer runs four at the weekend including Mootasadir in the September Stakes at Kempton!
Mootasadir returns to the racecourse in the Sun Racing September Stakes at Kempton on Saturday.
I’m very happy with him. His work has been really pleasing.
He had a nice break after the Northumberland Plate, which he needed. He had been busy up until then.
He came back from his break looking great, looking like he had put on a lot of weight. That has gradually come off him, and he’s back to his normal weight now. While I’m sure he is entitled to improve for this run, he goes there in good nick and ready to do himself justice.
It’s a big field, I suppose some of the horses in the field are having their last runs before they go to Melbourne. The September Stakes is one of the very last races that they can run in. So it has become a popular race, and it’s a good race.
Mootasadir will have to come up trumps in a big way to win this weekend.
Last year, Enable beat Crystal Ocean in the race, and this year there’s a multiple Group 1 winner in there in Best Solution. Obviously he’s not the quality of Enbabe, but he’s a multiple Group 1 winner. H hasn’t raced for 11 months, but Saeed’s horses rarely lack for fitness.
Best Solution aside, it’s a competitive race, and Mootasadir is going to have to put up a career-best if he’s going to win it.
He’s a winner over a mile and a half, he came off the bridle a long way from home in the Magnolia Stakes over two furlongs shorter at Kempton in March. It’s the only race for him at the moment, and then he’s got the Diamond Stakes again at Dundalk three weeks later, which he won last year. So we’ll try to win them both, and we’ll start here.
Arbalet goes in the Cunard Handicap at Ascot. He didn’t really do anything at York. He wasn’t very well drawn, he didn’t get into a very good position, and he didn’t really change his position. He didn’t go forward and he didn’t go backwards. I’m not sure that he really took part. So we’re putting the blinkers on him, just to try to sharpen him up.
His work has been very pleasing, and he should get the quick ground that he likes, which he didn’t get the last time he ran at Ascot in the International Handicap. He’s down 4lb for his York run, so he’s 9lb lower than when he was second in the International Handicap last year, and he’s 12lb lower than he was at the start of this season. If he can put it all together, he has a big chance, but it’s a fairly big if.
Arbalet disappointed Hugo in York but may go well at Ascot on Saturday.
We introduce Hlaitan in the first race at Ascot, the novice stakes. He’s a nice colt, he has been doing nicely at home, and I think the stiff seven furlongs at Ascot will suit him.
This is always quite a good race, it’s normally won by a good horse, people tend to take well-bred horses to it. The 99-rated Ropey Guest sets a high standard, if he runs to 99 I’ll be surprised if we can beat him, on our racecourse debut. But Hlaitan is a nicely-bred colt and I hope that he runs a nice race, so that we will have something to build on for the future.
Hot Team goes in the one-mile handicap at Thirsk. This is often a good race, we’ve won it a couple of times recently, with Murad Khan in 2016 and with Extremity in 2014. It doesn’t look to be as strong a race this year as it usually is. Hot Team does want an ease in the ground, and if Thirsk gets the rain, then he could run well.
Zingaro Boy runs in the nursery at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening. He is a very frustrating horse, he really should be a winner by now.
He has always shown up well at home, and he has run well on all-weather at Kempton, so I hope that he can put up a good performance here. Cieren Fallon is riding very well, and he takes a useful 5lb off, so I hope that that might make the difference. He is not well drawn, nine of 10, but the return to six furlongs should be good for him and, with the rider’s claim, he will be racing off an effective mark of 66.
I was delighted with Siglo Six at Sandown last Saturday. He did plenty wrong in the race, he had to come wide, and sometimes they can get a bit lost when they have to come wide like that at Sandown. But he saw it out well and won nicely.
The handicapper gave him 4lb for that, so he will have to improve, but there is another handicap at Sandown next week, so we might aim for that.
Incinerator won a nursery at Windsor on Monday evening. He benefitted from an excellent front-running ride by James Doyle.
He was set to carry 10 stone, and I was in two minds about whether or not to run him. Ten stone is a big weight for a two-year-old. But he is a big strong horse who takes his racing well, so we decided to run.
We’ve always thought that he would be better than a 76-rated horse, but I’m not sure that he beat a whole lot on Monday, so hopefully, the handicapper won’t be too harsh!
