Hugo Palmer Chester May Festival day two runners blog: 'We can't have it both ways'

We need to atone for his performance at Newcastle on All-weather finals day, but he was ten kilos heavier that day than when he had won on his previous start, and that probably caught him out over two miles. He probably just had too long off between races, and he was just a bit short of work.

This will be his first start for us on grass, he has won on it before, and I think he’ll enjoy the quicker ground. We’re trying to see if he’s a Melbourne Cup horse, so I hope there is more to come from him, at least we didn’t run our race at all at Newcastle, rather than giving our running and finishing second by a length. We need to finish in the first three in a Group race over a mile and half or further, and I hope he can do that here, with several of his rivals wanting more ease in the ground perhaps. 

We run three in the seven furlongs handicap, a race that surprisingly hasn’t filled. All three have good chances, Miami Matrix and Sweet Fantastic are drawn well, and even Soldiers Star isn’t drawn too badly in nine, as it’s not a full field. All three carry nice low weights, I can’t spilt them and hope all three can be competitive off of their marks.  

Box To Box didn’t enjoy the same success as Roman Dragon in Bahrain, but I thought he would have an excellent chance here this week. His draw of 13 of 14 isn’t ideal, but over this trip it’s less of a problem than it is over shorter distances. He’s come back from his travels in good order, his rating has dropped in Bahrain, to a mark where I think he should be very competitive here. 

We end the day with another pair of runners. My Kinda Ghaiy has had his three runs to get his handicap mark, and he’s been gelded. I think he will stay this trip well, albeit there has to be a question mark about him going an extra half mile at this early stage of his career.

Patagonia Girl is by a Derby winner out of a mare by another Derby winner, so she should stay I hope. I’ve been very happy with her work this spring, and I hope she could be well handicapped. 

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