Racing TV presenter Peter Naughton begins a weekly revelation of his notebook in search of future winners for Sportinglife.com readers.
It's a privilege to bring you highlights from the Naughton Notebook and this week I have two major eye-catchers from Royal Ascot, plus one from a relatively low-key Scottish fixture.
Awe did remarkably well to finish fourth to Biometric in the Britannia Handicap on Thursday.
William Haggas' progressive three-year-old did best of those drawn low (stall five) and his trainer stated beforehand the colt's chances would have been enhanced on drier ground.
Racing in the unfavoured far side group, Awe made headway from midfield over two-out, and edged left when staying on inside the final furlong, without looking likely to catch market leader Turgenev, who just missed out on giving Frankie Dettori a remarkable five-timer on the card.
Better ground and a better draw will surely bring success for Awe off his mark in the mid-90s.
Similarly, Whimbrel raced away from the action when eighth of 28 in the fiercely competitive Sandringham Handicap on Friday.
The huge field of fillies raced down the centre of the track but this classy daughter of Dark Angel was on the wing from stall four. In addition, she was bumped leaving the gates. Held up, the classy filly made headway to hold every chance over a furlong out and kept on to finish fairly close to the placed horses.
John Gosden had four in this but correctly insisted Whimbrel would handle the rain-softened ground better than her three stablemates, so keep her in mind in similar conditions. Whimbrel raced from 4lb out of the handicap but has progressed with each run, including when winning over 1m2f on the all-weather.
Mark Johnston had another fabulous Royal Ascot with successes for Baghdad and Raffle Prize but I found one from the same stable for the notebook at a lower level;
One Hart reportedly unshipped Franny Norton in the preliminaries of the 6f maiden at Hamilton.
This impressive colt stood for a while in front of the stalls before loading-it appeared officials wanted the horse checked over-but all was well. This 48,000 euros foal tracked the leaders before being pushed along but might not have been suited by the downhill part of the track.
Leading briefly, One Hart stayed on well to finish a close second to well backed favourite The New Marwan, who had the benefit of two runs.
The front two were clear and the runner-up looks a sure fire future winner.
Click here for more of Peter's free notebook horses.
Related horse racing links
