Building things up

We're starting to unleash a few of the big guns now and I hope a few of the horses new and old will be able to really kick start our year over the next couple of weeks.
Our highest rated horse in the yard, Luhaif, ran a blinder at Lingfield on Saturday to finish second in a valuable handicap. It was his first run in a good few months but we had got him pretty fit and he made a bold bid to make all the running but just got caught close to the line. Hopefully this is the start of good things for him and he'll be competitive in all the big one mile handicaps during the season.

We managed to buy quite a few nice horses towards the back-end of last year and they are now ready to show us what they've got. Avidly came from France and she ran a great race to finish second on her debut for us at Lingfield, despite running quite green. She is in at Kempton on Wednesday in a maiden that certainly looks winnable for her if the few newcomers in the race are nothing special. I think the track will really suit her and the extra furlong will too so she should have a great chance.
Vastly is an old face round these parts nowadays but he is still, unbelievably, a maiden. He has run some great races in defeat but never managed to win. He has come back from his recent break in top form and has got fitter a lot quicker than I could have hoped. He'll likely run a week on Tuesday in what should be a weak maiden race at Southwell. The track's surface is a big unknown for him as horses either love it or hate it but he is bred to race on dirt so has that in his favour.

Vastly (Shelley) & Avidly (Graham)

 

Avidly and Candesta are both owned by the same person and George will be in for a busy day on Wednesday as they both run at two different meetings. Before Avidly in the evening, Candesta will be making his UK debut at Lingfield. He has only run once before in France but as he is so big, he has obviously needed time to mature and now looks a lovely horse. He will likely improve for the run but maidens can be weak at this time of year so you never know.
No Such Number has come out of his Kempton run fine and we're still waiting for the rain to ease off a bit so we can run him over hurdles again.

No Such Number (Reno) & Candesta (Shirley)

One I'm really looking forward to seeing run is Meddling. I bought her from Sir Michael Stoute's yard in December and she has really impressed me. She has a rating of 65 and I think she is perfectly capable of winning off that. She has been running over sprint distances but I think a mile is more ideal for her and hopefully I'll be proven correct when she hits the track next week.

Meddling (Graham) & Amelia George (Adam)

Previous Acclaim is one I bought cheaply in December and, after two tame runs, she has dropped quite a lot in the ratings. I definitely think there is a race in her but finding the right trip is proving difficult. I'm leaning towards seven furlongs with her now as she found five too sharp last time.

Previous Acclaim (Ross)

Omega Omega ran her usual solid race without winning last week and she'll be back to Southwell again on Thursday. The 1m4f distance seemed fine for her last time so we're sticking to that and hoping she can come home a bit quicker than before.
Finishing the week on Saturday we have Veeraya and Attain. The latter has made a bit of a name for himself after going so many races without a win but he has been unlucky to bump into improving horses. The one that beat him the time before last won again today so one day he should get his chance.
Veeraya ran a cracker on his first run for us and he seems in even better form now. This is a class lower than last time too so, although he is hard to judge at home because he is quite lazy, I think he will be in the shake-up.