Jane and I went to Ascot yesterday as guests of Watership Down Stud. I have yearling filly with them that I really like – Sadlers Wells out of Race the Wild Wind and a half sister to King Charlemagne and Meshaheer. The room was full of all types of racing people with a few theatre people thrown in (the stud is owned by the Lloyd-Webbers).
I didn’t back a winner all day. After the sales race we went down to watch the prize giving – Richard Hughes was handed an expensive cut glass decanter – he dropped it and it smashed on the ground. In the evening we went to a charity ball in Fulham. I have a collection of bits and pieces that I’ve bought in charity auctions over the years – on this occasion I left with a beautifully restored 1953 Claud Butler racing bike. It should go well with the unicycle that I bought at the last ball I went to.
Winker goes today in the QE11, and he’s a largely forgotten horse at the moment. The various write up’s I’ve seen talk about a three horse race, and Mark Winstanley said he expected the ambulance to come fourth (sob). I don’t think Winker likes this sort of talk and I’ve got a sneaky feeling that he’s going to run a big race today.
King’s Head goes earlier at Market Rasen and on the face of it he has an excellent chance. He likes it firm though and they’ve been watering the course in the week – it won’t have helped him. The last time he came out quickly after a win he ran very badly – he usually needs a bit of time to recover from his races. Gary says that he’s been great at home and shows no sign of fatigue, but it’s often hard to tell. He’ll like his very light weight, but with a few question marks I don’t rate him a betting proposition.
In the last at Ascot Minkowski looks like a win waiting to happen and today could be the day. The stable had a nice winner yesterday and I’ll be backing this one to hit form over the longer trip.
Bea Menace ran a nice race at Haydock in second and she’ll improve for the experience. She may turn out to be decent.