Simon Mapletoft on the AWC: Stable Tours – David Simcock

The Newmarket trainer was among the top performers last winter with an impressive strike rate of 25 per cent, and excelled at Kempton Park.

It’s a case of quality over quantity for Newmarket trainer David Simcock, whose exciting team of All-Weather performers have the credentials to acquit themselves well in the Championship races. Simcock’s record last winter was enviable, to say the least. He saddled 21 winners at a strike rate of 25 per cent and excelled at Kempton where nine winners from 22 runners yielded a return of 41 per cent. He really was the punters’ friend at the Sunbury circuit, performing to a level stakes profit of 78.50.

Doctor Sardonicus, a lightly raced four-year-old, has the speed to become one of the surprise packages in the Sprint division. Charles Wentworth’s gelding scored for the second time at Chelmsford at the end of September, posting a fast time without ever being seriously challenged. Equally effective over five or six furlongs, he can win another handicap before trying his luck in conditions or even Listed company on sand.

Dragon Mall didn’t fire in a Group Three on turf but his victory at Chelmsford prior to that was a head-turner. The US-bred colt produced one of the best performances over a synthetic mile all year to land a valuable conditions race in a fast time. Going into battle off a mark in the low 90s, this speedy juvenile must be of interest in Fast Track Qualifiers and could easily find the necessary improvement to play a starring role in the Good Friday final.

It would come as no surprise to see the steadily improving Majeed hold his own in Pattern company as the winter unfolds. This five-year-old gelding readily defied a mark of 93 in a 10-furlong Chelmsford handicap at the end of September and is now officially rated high enough to be competitive in conditions qualifiers for the Middle Distance Final or high calibre events up to a mile and a half. “The Chelmsford win was his fourth of the season and arguably his most impressive,” Simcock says on his web site.