CHIEFOFCHIEFS
Chiefofchiefs is an old favourite who seems to be getting better with age. He won at Royal Ascot last year and that place really suits him. I really liked his return at Doncaster where he travelled very sweetly through the race and just didn't get the splits at the right time.
The plan is to go for the Victoria Cup and then on to Royal Ascot for either the Wokingham or the Buckingham Palace. He's very versatile in regards to ground — he'll go on anything — and I think you could go six or seven furlongs and he'll pick up a big one again this year.
KING OTTOKAR
He's been unbelievably unlucky since his three-year-old year and even then he was pretty unlucky in the Sovereign at Salisbury, and at Royal Ascot where he had the perfect draw and ended up three-wide out the back through no fault of his own.
Last year was a disaster: he had two quiet runs where, as a colt, the shutdown didn't help him. He was very heavy and his head just wasn't in the game. We gelded him and he improved plenty, culminating in what looked like a luckless run in the Balmoral where we were drawn on the wrong side and he won his side convincingly.
I ran him in the Lincoln when I shouldn't have run him, but I ran him because I wanted absolute clarification that he isn't a quick-ground horse and again things didn't go right. He was stuck out wide with no cover, but he hated the ground and he has to have cut in the ground.
He still retains every ounce of his ability and is a very, very good horse. Things will fall right for him and when they do, not only do I think he has a big handicap in him, I think there are even nicer races to be won with him. Don't lose the faith with this horse, he's much better than he's been showing. He looks fantastic and I really believe there will be a big one in him.
MARIEGOLD
Mariegold made a really nice debut over a mile at Kempton at the end of last year. She has a phenomenal pedigree — probably as good as Onassis. She's from the family of Magic Wand and Chiquita, by Golden Horn. She's bred to stay all day and looks like she'll stay all day.
She's probably not far off being ready to run but where she'll start, I don't know. We've given her an Oaks entry; whether she's quite Oaks material, I'm not sure. The concern would be more to do with the track than anything, but I think she's very good and I'm really looking forward to her this year.
ONASSIS
A very good filly who rounded off last year with a win in a Listed race, followed by an unbelievably good run in the Champions Sprint — only beaten two and a half lengths. That came only six days after winning that Listed race on bottomless ground.
She's got tons of speed, although I do think six furlongs is too sharp for her. She'll probably start off in the one-mile Group Two fillies race at Royal Ascot — the Duchess of Cambridge — and then we'll aim at the seven furlong races for the rest of the season, with races like the Prix de la Forêt and possibly the Prix Maurice de Gheest coming under consideration.
We'll see how we go but she's a very talented filly with an excellent pedigree, by a brilliant stallion, and she should only get better this year. I firmly believe that at the very minimum, she's group class and should pick up a Group Three, but I do think she's even better than that.
VADREAM
A filly who won on debut at Newcastle. She only ever does as much as she has to and was having a good look around that day in what probably wasn't a bad race. She's got an entry this weekend in the Fred Darling at Newbury and all being well, that's were we'll start her off.
She's got a lot of speed and my concern is that she might be a sprinter, but we're going to try her over seven furlongs and see if she stays a mile. If she stays a mile, she's a very useful filly. She's got a great way of going, is very straightforward and seems to have come back in good form.
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