Kristal Klear comes here off the back of wind surgery, and you never really know if the procedure has had the desired effect until you put them under the pressure of a race. Newmarket is a good front-running track, and I often think it helps to make the running off the back of a wind operation as it often means you can get them into a good rhythm up top, so that will certainly be the plan here.
I’m a little bit nervous about the quick ground for her, but there are a few showers forecast around Newmarket, so hopefully they’ll arrive, and the ground will be perfect for our filly. It looks a competitive race, but we’ve been dropped a few pounds by the handicapper, and I’m hoping she can finish off her race better than she has been now that we’ve sorted her breathing out.
We were absolutely delighted with his win in the Ballyhane Stakes at Naas last time, but he does carry a 4lb penalty here for that victory. Having said that, he has €148,000 in his back pocket for that win, so we’d much rather be carrying the extra weight than be without that!
He will certainly find this tougher under top weight, and this will probably be the quickest ground he’s encountered, but he’s a progressive horse, and he tries hard, so he’s certainly one of the better horses in the race. He’ll probably be one of the pace angles, so hopefully being drawn in stall 11 isn’t too much of a disadvantage, and he’ll certainly be up there early, but hopefully there’s something up there setting a good pace and we can get a nice tow into the race.
We’ve set him some pretty tough tasks since his wonderful win in Qatar, but he’s definitely in the calmest waters he’s been in for some time here. Taking on Lucky Sweynesse in Hong Kong was always going to be very tough, as was carrying top weight in the Wokingham, but he hasn’t totally disgraced himself in either of those races.
He’s had a good two-month break since Ascot, and he goes well fresh, so I’m very happy with him at the moment. He should like the fast ground, so hopefully there’s not too much rain around, but he’s run well with cut in the ground before, so hopefully it won’t be too much of a hinderance if the rain does arrive. It looks a good race, but I won it with Gifted Master off a similar mark, so you’d have to say we go there with a decent chance.
He’s a wonderful horse Box To Box and we all love him here at Manor House. He’s been in really good form this year, and he ran well here last time when second to a nice horse of Richard Fahey’s. It’s funny in that if you were going to design the perfect racecourse, then you couldn’t go far wrong with York as it’s such a fair track. Having said that, it’s amazing how it seems to be such a specialist track, and some horses don’t seem to handle it, so it’s always good when you’ve been there and run well before.
This will require a career-best from him, but he’s in really good form at home, and he has a nice weight, so I’m hopeful he can be very competitive with Hollie Doyle on board for the first time.
