22 May 2018

All Heart!

This Group 1-winning Equiano gelding who made a frustrating trip to Hong Kong last December after developing a fever when arriving, proved he was back in supreme health at Windsor last night when winning the Listed Weatherbys Hamilton Leisure Stakes. The James Fanshawe-trained The Tin Man stamped his mark again on the race he won in 2016 and thereby also confirmed his claim as a leading contender for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. Tom Queally had the presence of mind to steer the six-year-old across the track from his position coming out of stall six to the middle of the course and closer to where the action was. The strategy paid off and The Tin Man sailed past the eventual second and third, D'bai and Projection, respectively, with three-quarters of a length to spare.

Distance didn't Thai him down!

An owner flew all the way from Thailand especially to watch his Clodovil colt race at Redcar yesterday. Chris Hirst flew to England on Friday and is already on his way back today but his journey wasn't in vain. The Mick Channon-trained Certain Lad faced ten rivals in the Watch Racing UK Anywhere Novice Auction Stakes for his first career appearance and some of them had raced before. Undaunted the two-year-old initially chased the leaders and eventually went into the lead about a furlong from home, running on well to win by three-and-three-quarter lengths.

Eminently sound.

It's Royal Ascot in a month's time and one particular race, the Prince of Wales's Stakes, is the target for this Frankel colt who ran disappointingly at Chester a week ago, later attributed to a heart fibrillation. The Martyn Meade-trained Eminent has now been given a clean bill of health after extensive tests revealed that the four-year-old's heartbeat has completely settled down and is back to normal. So it has been decided that problem was a one-off and racing will continue as planned.