Hugo Palmer: It looks well worth giving it a go

Soldier’s Gold

I suppose being the highest rated of ours, being proven on the ground, and getting a 4lb pull in the weights for being out of a stallion with a lower median, you’d have to say mathematically he has the best chance of our runners. I noticed he’s the shortest of ours in the betting too, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest he’s our best chance in the race.

It is a very competitive race as you’d expect for the money on offer, and it’s not difficult to see why Johannes Brahms is up near the head of the market. Finishing runner-up in the Gimcrack is very good form, but this will be very different ground he’ll encounter here, and although Siyouni’s offspring seem to handle cut in the ground, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he wasn’t as effective on it.

I think the extended 6f will be absolutely perfect for Soldier’s Gold, and we know he’ll handle the ground, so I’m really looking forward to running him. I know we have a bit to find on figures with Aidan’s horse who’s rated 106, but we are rated 93 and in receipt of 4lb, so with 9lb to find, that’s only about three lengths over this sort of trip, so stranger things have happened.

Watcha Matey

We were delighted when Watcha Matey finally got off the mark at Newmarket last time as he’d run some really good races in defeat, so it was great to finally see him get his head in front.

This will obviously be a much sterner test and he’ll have to take a big step forward to be involved at the business end, but he does get a bit of a pull in the weights for being by a cheaper stallion, and he’s very tough and versatile with regards to the ground, so hopefully he can pick up some prize money for us.

It’s always difficult to give a jockey instructions when you have four in the same race, so I suspect I’ll just advise them not to get in each other’s way!

Hugo

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