We paid a visit to Spiggot Lodge to get the lowdown from trainer Karl Burke who has enjoyed excellent start to the 2022 campaign.
We had a great winter, the horses performed really well all through the winter and all the good horses won their races – their main targets – which got plenty of prize money in and it’s carried on into the turf.
We haven’t had loads of runners yet but the two-year-olds have started particularly well.
Two-year-olds
It was a hell of a performance at Newmarket, she was very green when she hit the front and she was almost propping back, having a look at the screen and just taking it all in.
She’s a high-class filly and she’s come out of her first run 100 per cent.
We trained her dam [Katie’s Diamond] and she was a very good filly. She’d have run well in the Guineas but got injured. She was only beaten a couple of lengths by Ballydoyle in the Marcel Boussac after running off with the jockey down to the start of the race.
I’m pretty sure Dramatised will now go straight to the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot.
She’s a very fast filly and ran a cracking race first time up, just getting beaten on the line at Newmarket by a good horse I'm told Richard Hannon likes.
It was only a small field at Pontefract but she did it really well and she deserves to take her chance in the Marygate at York.
She did just drift to the right a little bit at Pontefract but came back with slightly sore shins so that could be what it was. She’s absolutely fine now and it was only a minor thing.
She’s done nothing wrong and is a tough little filly. The owners rightly want to go and try to get some black type and she also goes to York with some sort of chance.
Pillow Talk ran a great race from stall one on her debut at Nottingham, just missing out by half a length. She could be anything as it was a hell of a performance and she’d only just started coming to herself two or three weeks before going to Nottingham.
I think she’s the one filly who will step forward hugely on her first run and I think she goes to York for the Marygate with a good chance.
DARK DESIRE
She's a lovely filly by Dark Angel who we bought at Tattersalls. She's owned by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid and she's looking a really nice filly, one we're all excited about seeing. She might make her debut in a couple of weeks’ time.
He’s a colt by Unfortunately and he ran well when second first time out over five furlongs at Ayr at the end of April.
Three-year-olds
We came up with the all-weather plan for him after he got injured last year and had most of the year off after his debut. We knew he was a really nice horse and we just mapped out that (All Weather Championships) plan and fortunately it all worked out superbly well.
But he was second to a Group winner on his debut on turf so we know he handles that as well and we’ll go for the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock and that’ll tell us whether he’s good enough to go for the Commonwealth Cup or maybe the Jersey Stakes. I couldn’t say I was certain he’s a Group One horse, but I wouldn’t say he’s not either. He’s definitely Group Three level and I don’t think we’ve got to the bottom of him yet, he doesn’t over-do himself.
He raced quite keenly at Newcastle and it wasn’t really the plan to make the running but my other horse Kaboo missed the kick and that wasn’t ideal, but El Caballo did well to see the race out.
He runs at Hamilton on Sunday and I think he's one of mine who could be very well handicapped. I was surprised he only got a mark of 80 and I'd expect him to remain very competitive before going up in class.
He’s a lovely horse, he carries a few little niggly physical issues with him but he’s talented. Things didn’t go right for him at Newcastle and I think he's definitely better than he was able to show there.
I'm not sure where we'll head with him yet but he’s certainly a horse worth watching.
The aim for him is to go for the three-year-old handicap at York. He was gelded through the winter and to be honest he took it quite hard so maybe he still hadn’t quite come back to himself in time for his Sandown reappearance. But we’re getting their now and he’ll come on for the run.
But whatever he does this week I do think he’ll come on again and he could end up at Royal Ascot in the five-furlong handicap for three-year-olds [Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes].
She ran really well at Newmarket when second in the King Charles II Stakes and we considered giving her an entry in the Michael Seely Memorial Stakes at York.
She might now go to the Surrey Stakes at Epsom on Derby day, it’s for three-year-olds only and would mean we’ll be sticking to seven furlongs rather than going up to a mile. It’s against the colts though so it could be tough.
He broke his maiden over seven furlongs at Newcastle but we knew that was taking a chance at the trip which was why we made plenty of use of him. I thought he'd certainly be a mile to a mile and a quarter horse but it looks as though he could easily improve for stepping up to a mile and a half.
If that goes well at York then he could be another to book his place at Royal Ascot, most likely in the big handicap for three-year-olds over 12 furlongs [King George].
He’s a lovely horse we bought out of Shadwell and has shaped well for us.
He’s a nice sprinter and there’s more to come from him. He’s going to wear sheepskin cheekpieces next time as I’m convinced he’s been holding a bit back from us despite winning the other day.
I thought we might run at Ascot on Friday but the owners are quite keen to go to Hamilton which might mean he faces Aasser and I’d prefer the latter of the two off their current marks.
But Lethal Levi may go for one of those valuable three-year-old six furlongs handicaps at York or Newmarket.
She was second to the Guineas winner [Cachet] in the Nell Gwyn which was a brilliant run.
The Guineas horse stepped up again and it was probably D-day for Almohandesah who we were looking to get some black type with. So it was a good result and she should be capable of winning a Listed race somewhere, maybe in France.
She’s a nice filly and looks to be getting a bit better, she’s probably more of a seven-furlong filly.
He goes for the Westow Stakes at York over five furlongs. Dropping back to the minimum trip with cheekpieces on could suit as I don’t think we’ve quite got to the bottom of him yet.
Equally, you'd think stepping up to six furlongs would be fine but he’s got plenty of speed.
She won the Listed Roses Stakes at the Ebor meeting last year and she’s a good filly for Clipper Logistics, she’s very quick. She’s a possible to line up in the Westow as well.
Older horses
He won't run at Haydock this weekend and I’d imagine he’ll go for the seven-furlong handicap at Royal Ascot [Buckingham Palace] and we'll maybe claim 7lb off him.
That’ll probably be his plan and then he’ll have a little break and we’ll freshen him up. The idea might be to send him out to the middle east later on in the year.
He was very unlucky at Newcastle on All-Weather Championships Finals Day – he was the best horse in the race really.
He suffers with his feet a little bit and we only just got him there right on the day but I think just jumping out of the stalls he was maybe thinking about his feet as he jumped slowly and he took a little while to warm up into the race.
He got behind and had no way, Cliff (Lee) had to make an easy decision – and the right decision – to come wide but it may have cost him the race. I think he’d have been hard to beat there with a better run through.
He could go to York but he’s also got an entry at the Curragh. Ground would be a key to him as he’d want soft in the description really. He had an entry for the Duke Of York but may drop back to five furlongs for the Westow Stakes. I don’t think he’s the finished article yet.
All last year I’d have said we might be stepping him up to seven furlongs as he’s a big long-striding horse but as he’s got stronger he seems to have become quicker so we’re keen to give the minimum trip at go.
The Wokingham might be an idea at Ascot and the race I think that would really suit him is the Chipchase Stakes back at Newcastle at the end of June. That could be perfect for him and if it came up very fast at Ascot he wouldn’t go.
He’s had a little breathing operation which is what we did before going to Royal Ascot last year. I just felt he needed that to help him.
He might go for the Temple Stakes if the ground was soft but in truth we might just sit and wait with him for the time being.
She ran a lovely race when winning on her first start for us at Bath. She’d shown a lot of speed in her work at home but probably hadn’t been finishing her gallops out as I’d have liked. But whenever we dropped her in she finished her gallops better so that was always going to be the plan, to ride her to finish, and the wide draw made that decision even easier.
Whether she was favoured by the softer ground and her position on the track in those conditions I don’t know, but we had no choice and it worked brilliantly.
She’s a very well-bred speedy filly who comes from a very fast family. She will be ground dependant and must have some give underfoot so we’ll have a look at the Temple Stakes and if the ground comes up soft she’ll go there and hopefully we can get some Group-race black type for her.
There is a race in France that she’d be qualifies for in June that might come onto the radar.
He put up a great performance to win at Pontefract and he looks a different horse compared to last year.
He was a bit of shell of a horse last year for whatever reason and looking at him now he’s so much stronger and looks in great shape. He goes to Hamilton on Sunday with a big chance.
He was balloted out of the Victoria Cup which might not be a bad thing as he’d had four quite quick runs already this year.
He’s up to a mark of 87 now but he’s always worked like a Group horse – as a two-year-old I thought he’d definitely be a Group horse but I honestly only think he gives us two-thirds of his genuine ability.
When he came back into the enclosure after finishing second at Newmarket last time you’d think he’d just had a trot around our schooling ring, he just wasn’t bothered at all, but that’s him.
He should stay a mile really but seven furlongs seems to suit him well. The longer he goes it’s almost like the lazier he gets so he probably suits an aggressive ride over seven when he can go that stride quicker and know he’ll keep going.
But I think he’s on an upward curve now so hopefully it stays that way.
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