Hugo Palmer Saturday runners blog: 'I like the way she's drawn here'

Hugo Palmer shares his latest Coral ambassador blog, previewing his five runners across Saturday at Ascot, Haydock and Kempton.

• Glacius - Haydock - 1.50 race odds

• Seagolazo - Ascot - 2.10 race odds

• Ruby's Angel - Kempton - 2.35 race odds

• Asteverdi - Ascot - 3.50 race odds

• One Eye Jack - Haydock - 4.40 race odds

His participation really depends on the ground we get today. He’s definitely not a soft-ground horse, but we think good-to-soft might be okay — we’ll just have to see. We really like him; he’s come on a lot since his debut.

That said, this actually looks like possibly the best two-year-old race run in England this year. It’s really, really strong for a Listed contest, especially with the reputations of some of the horses lining up. But we couldn’t like our horse any more than we do. If he takes part, I hope he runs a big race. We may find one or two better than him, but I do think he’s pretty smart, and we’ll learn a lot more about him on Saturday.

We have opted to declare him for Ascot, rather than York on Sunday. The big field at York last time didn’t really suit him — he’s such a lazy horse that he got behind early, and I thought York would likely cut up into another big field, so we’ve opted for Ascot. He handled soft ground as a two-year-old and he’s stronger now, so hopefully he copes with it again.

I’m just not sure how much the short straight at Ascot will suit him, but Oisin Murphy has been adamant for a while that this is his trip. He’ll ride him again, and fingers crossed he shows improvement.

Ruby’s Angel produced a big performance on her last run. It’s a smaller field here, but still competitive. Before her last run, Saffie Osborne said to me, “You must like this filly — she’s been favourite every time she’s run,” and she was right. We’ve been a bit disappointed she hadn’t won before then.

I like the way she’s drawn here. Earlier this week at Kempton, the inside rail was riding slow, so I’d rather be drawn middle to stand side. From stall five, Oisin should be able to sit handy on the outside and get a good run at it. She’s a big filly — much bigger than the rest of her family — and I think there’s still more progress to come. She didn’t go up a huge amount for winning at York, so hopefully she can run well again.

Asteverdi has been a very frustrating horse. She was due to run on soft ground on Thursday at Salisbury, but that was abandoned, so we’ve rerouted her to Ascot over a stiff mile. She’s a nice filly but has only run once, despite us having her since February — it’s just been one of those years. She should get her ground at Ascot, though, and I’m hopeful she can build on it now that autumn is coming.

One Eye Jack was also declared at Salisbury on Thursday. He definitely wants it softer, so unless thunderstorms arrive, we may not run him.

I don’t want to leave his race behind on the wrong ground. We’ll wait for when he gets conditions to suit, because he’s definitely a horse with plenty of ability.

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