Hugo Palmer Saturday runners blog: 'She has done nothing but improve all season'

Runners all over the country on a busy day, starting with Condotti, who has been disappointing to date. He is a horse with ability, and he definitely needs some ease in the ground, although it was perhaps too soft last time at Chester, on officially heavy ground, so marginally quicker ground here would be more to his liking. He does need to put his best foot forward here, and that is something he has been unable to do so far.

We are up in grade with this filly, so we’re tilting at windmills a little bit, but she is sixth favourite for a Group 1, which if you’d suggested to me at the start of the year when she was rated 79, I would have laughed at you. We do see horses improve with age, and I wouldn’t rule out her staying in training for another season, when she could improve again.

She’s had a wonderful year, I am delighted with how she is, she’s still got her summer coat and her work has been excellent. I think she will like Newmarket, and whatever conditions the weather brings I think she will be fine on the ground. She does need to improve again but she’s done nothing but improve all season, so it’s exciting to run her, she deserves her place in this field.

Nariko is another filly who needs to improve, and we’re still scratching our heads as to why she ran so poorly at Ayr. It’s possible she could have been in season, but we’ve run lots of tests and she’s a healthy, sound horse. We probably won’t run unless the rain comes, so we’ll have to wait and see, but if she could finish third in a race like this it would enhance her paddock value massively.

Ardisia has had a fabulous year, he goes on any ground but he loves soft ground so I hope Redcar gets plenty of rain. He’s on really good terms with himself so I hope he can negate his unfavourable draw, get into a decent position and run a big race.

We’re Goosers is a lovely horse by the sire of the moment, Starman. He’s a lovely big horse, so very much a horse for next year, but I like everything he’s done at home. It’s a competitive looking but small field, and I have some sympathy for racecourses, putting up decent prize money and only getting five runners, so we’ll be doing our best to win as much of it as we can.

I think Be The Standard has been given a perfectly reasonable opening handicap mark of 83, and while I think he will be a very nice middle-distance staying type next year, he’s in very good order at home and I hope he can go well.

We end the day with He’s A Gentleman, who loves the all-weather and has won well at Wolverhampton previously. His last win was at the start of the year, so he might still be on a mark just too high for him to win, but he runs regularly and will run into form at some stage off a winnable mark. He’s drawn OK in stall seven, so fingers-crossed he can get into a decent rhythm and run a nice race.

It may not be a vintage Arc in terms of quality, as ideally you would always like to see the Derby winner, the King George winner, the winner of races like the Coral-Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes line up, but while that isn't the case this year, we have a very interesting race in prospect.

Minnie Hauk currently heads the betting, she has only beaten her own sex so far this season, but that doesn't mean she can't improve to beat the colts here. We don't know how good she is at this stage, but there's nothing to say she couldn't prove to be an Enable, who wins an Arc aged three, and then comes back and wins a King George and another Arc at four.

The Wertheimers have a very strong hand with Aventure and Sosie, and either have the form and the potential to win a race like this, while Andre Fabre always has to be respected in this race and his three-year old Cualificar is a horse that could well improve plenty from his run in the Prix Niel.

It's a shame two of the three Japanese runners have been done no favours by the draw, but Oisin Murphy is riding brilliantly this season, and so Byzantine Dream shouldn't be ruled out even from stall 15. All in all it’s a very open race, and that’s before we talk about any change in the going because of rain that may or may not arrive. Sorry I can’t be of more help in finding the winner!

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