Our columnist reflects on his York big guns while looking forward to autumn targets, before talking us through his weekend rides.
Looking forward to Almaqam again
It was a career-best performance from Almaqam at York last week and we were incredibly proud of him. To go that close in a Juddmonte International was pretty agonising but it was a huge effort. He's come out of the race well, he's in good order.
He's now rated 125 and he's really exciting going forward into the autumn when he should thrive.
I'm uncertain what the plan is next, but he has options in both the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and the British Champion Stakes at Ascot.
A bit of cut in the ground is quite important to him so I'm really looking forward to what comes next.
Ten Bob going back up to a mile
I thought Ten Bob Tony ran well in fourth in the Group 1 Sky Bet City of York Stakes. He simply got outpaced over seven furlongs when the race developed and I don't think we’ll see him in a hurry over that trip again.
He's going to go back up to a mile and it's as simple as that. I just felt that when they quickened he got caught flat-footed but he finished his race well and he has come out of it nicely.
The QEII is an obvious target but maybe he could back up quickly and go for the Prix du Moulin, I’m not sure, but those are the two races that could be on his agenda in the next part of the campaign.
