Saturday 30 April 2011 07:38, UK
Richard Fahey with the latest news from his yard ahead of Newmarket this weekend where his Barefoot Lady runs in the 1000 Guineas.
Top trainer Richard Fahey has signed a deal to write as lead racing columnist for skysports.com during the 2011 Flat season. Fahey scaled new heights in 2010, amassing more than £2 million in prize money and a best ever seasonal tally of 181 winners was showcased by the Group One success of Wootton Bassett in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Here he brings us the latest news from his yard as well as the inside track on all of his runners this weekend.
While it's a real shame Wootton Bassett doesn't go in the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket I'm glad we made the decision to skip the race.
Two weeks is a long time and it just allows us to get him spot on. I just felt I was trying to force him there and though his work was good he just wasn't ready for Newmarket. He's just had a week cantering and he'll work again next week.
I'd say he'll go to France on May 15 for the French 2000 Guineas now. He's had two gallops and an easy week which just takes the pressure off. Hopefully I'll work him next week and we'll be able to go to France.
Frankel looks the real deal. He's won every race he's run in and done it really well. It's his biggest test for sure being the main race of the year for three-year-old milers but I'd like to be training him.
Looking at form I think Wootton Bassett is the only horse that could have given him a race. Our form from France has worked out well and we really don't know how good our fellow is yet - we just know he's good.
We'd have made him sweat anyway, but with a bit of luck we can take him on later in the season.
Miss Work Of Art won well at Ascot on Thursday and she's a filly we like a lot. She surprised us first time out as she'd only done two little bits of work but she's improved a lot for it. It wasn't a major shock that she won at Ascot as she did some work with an older horse the other day and I couldn't believe what she did.
She could be a bit special - we like her a lot. She's a great temperament, everything about her is right and Paul Hanagan says she will come on again. She got stuck out on the wing a little bit on her own at Ascot, she was sort of dossing about but Paul says once he grabbed hold of her she took off.
She's very exciting, as nice a filly as we've ever had. She's not slow either - I know she looked a bit sluggish and green the other day but she's got speed. Five or six furlongs is fine for her now and we've pencilled her in for a listed race at York. She'll be Royal Ascot bound after that - either in the Queen Mary or the Albany.
Her win gives me confidence about our juveniles but I'm not quite sure where we are with them yet. With the grass being so firm I haven't been able to do as I like with them so I am guessing a little bit.
Our fillies have been doing well on the track and I've some cracking colts that are working very well. I'd just like to get them up on the grass and have a good sort out but on the whole I'm very excited about our juveniles.
It was great to have a treble at Musselburgh last Saturday. I wouldn't have Alejandro near the top of the pecking order among our two-year-olds but he's done nothing wrong and that bodes well for the colt. High Office has always wanted a trip but he's just been so weak and backward but he's starting to mature now. That was a career-high performance and he did it well.
But the best of the trio was Glen's Diamond who is just a real racehorse. He hated the track and they didn't go quick enough - everything went wrong for him and he still won. He's probably a very talented horse, as exciting a staying horse as I've ever had. He's doing everything right.
The problem with a horse like him is I'd like to go the handicap route but there's only the Edinburgh Cup (at Musselburgh on Derby day) that I can aim him at over 1m4f but he didn't handle the track. We might take the bull by the horns and step him up to listed or Group company now as we do think he's a good horse.
Just a quick heads up for next week as Cosmic Sun looks a huge price in the Chester Cup. If he stays he'll take a bit of beating and on breeding I think he'll get the trip. His dam won over three miles and his sire's Helissio and they stay all day.
He won a Roseberry over 1m4f which is too sharp for him but they went flat out and it suited him. He's in really good form and if he gets a good draw and he picks up like we know he can he'll take all the beating.
Saturday Runners
We got Kay Gee Be at the sales and I was delighted for Mark Leatham as he was bought with a plan to have a touch on him first time out and luckily it came off. It didn't actually go to plan, we were supposed to make the running but he won well in the end and the runner-up has won again. He's a horse with ability but it's a step up in the Qipco Sponsors British Champions Series Suffolk Handicap at Newmarket. I just find this meeting very tough because if the Newmarket boys have got a well handicapped one I'm sure they'll run it at this meeting as it's their showcase. But he's still on the up and is in great order so I hope he runs well.
It's tough for three-year-old sprinters but Arctic Feeling is a listed winner and as there's few races for him we've got to chuck him in against the old boys in the Pearl Bloodstock Palace House Stakes. It would be some performance if he could beat them at this time of year but it will be really tough. He's done well over the winter and he's a very quick horse - they won't take him off the bridle early on, but it's just whether he's good enough at the end of it.
Our Joe Mac goes in the totesport.com Thirsk Hunt Cup and he's been extremely disappointing. He's been working well - before the Lincoln we had nothing over a mile that could go with this horse but he's got to start running a race shortly. We might end up sticking headgear on him soon. In the same race we've Justonefortheroad and he keeps on surprising me. He ran a blinder at Doncaster as everything went wrong for him and he could run okay. Our Joe Mac would beat him 10 lengths at home but as we know you've got to do it on the track.
Crimson Cloud probably just needs the run in the totepool A Better Way To Bet Classified Stakes. She's a laid-back filly and in good order but she's built like a colt. I saw her this morning and she looks very tubby so the race will bring her on.
Elmfield Giant was trained for a mile and a half but he didn't stay so he drops back to 1m2f in the crownhotel-bawtry.co.uk Apprentice Handicap at Doncaster. He ran alright at Thirsk, much better than where he finished. This trip will suit him better and he won't mind the ground. George Chaloner's a good little rider so I'm hoping he runs a big race.
Springleaf ran okay last time and the run seems to have done her good. It's a watching brief with her in the Frenchgate Shopping Centre Maiden Stakes but if she won I'd be delighted for David Armstrong. Her work has just been ordinary so it'll be interesting to see how she gets on.
Sunday runners
Barefoot Lady has been absolutely bouncing since the Nell Gwyn and I'm hoping she takes that form into the Qipco 1000 Guineas. We've paid £30,000 to supplement her and it's a lot of money but there will be nothing in the race in better form. She's taken her race well, looks better in her coat and everything has gone very well. It's going to be very tough for her of course but at least she's arriving there and we're very happy with her. She's won on the track and I don't think the extra furlong will bother her. I think she'll have to find another 10lbs from her Nell Gwyn form but the extra distance could help so you never know. There's no negatives with her - it's just whether she's good enough. It's quite an open renewal and we haven't seen the better ones this season so it's hard to get a line on if they've trained on. At least we know we have.
On the same Newmarket card Johannes will run in the Al Rayan Handicap over six furlongs. He'll love the ground and everything is right for him but it's a typical sprint handicap and if you ran it ten times you'd get a different result every time.
Bridle Belle will run over ten furlongs in the Qipco Supporting Racing Welfare Handicap. It's a step up in trip but just what she wants. I was a bit disappointed with her at Doncaster but Paul just felt she probably needed the ring rustiness taken out of her. Maybe the handicapper has got hold of her, we'll see, but the step up in trip will help.
Up at Hamilton European Dream will run in the totepool Buttonhook Handicap as long as the ground is suitable for him. He ran okay at Musselburgh and Paul just felt that he sulked down on the inside and once he pulled him out he came home and definitely got the trip. We're keen to run him again quickly, but softer ground would be better for him.
Tarooq is working very well and will probably run in the Live Equine Anatomy Here Today Handicap. He's in good order and I'd be hopeful.
