Hugo Palmer: She’s one I’m very much looking forward to

Trainer and Coral ambassador Hugo Palmer discusses the chances of his Friday runner at Royal Ascot.

It was a frustrating day on Wednesday as I don’t really know why Hackman ran as bad as he did in the Windsor Castle. He stopped very quickly, but the vet had a look at him afterwards and there was nothing amiss with him and he seems to have come out the race absolutely fine.

I do wonder whether the ground just maybe got a bit too quick for him. We’ve never thought he wanted slow ground, but he did win on it and maybe that’s just what he wants to be seen at his best.

It’s a quiet day on Friday as we only have the one runner in the Sandringham Stakes at Ascot, but she’s one I’m very much looking forward to.

5.00 – Chelsea Green

These handicaps at Ascot are the hardest races on the planet to win, but this has been the plan with her for a very long time, so it’s nice when it works out and you get them here fit and well.

I don’t think there’s been a huge draw bias this week, so I don’t think being in stall seven will cause any problems for her, and I’m really looking forward to running her.

We were very confident going into Newmarket with her last time, so it was great to see her return to winning ways there. The way this race will be run should suit her as she likes to race off the pace, so it’s just a case of hoping she doesn’t run into any traffic problems in such a large field.

I suppose the job for Ben Curtis will be to track the right horses and deliver her challenge at the right time, and while you can win sprint handicaps from the front, I often think races over this stiff mile sort of unravel in the final furlong, so that’s when we’ll be hoping to strike.