Wednesday 8 June 2011

Richard Hannon - At All Four Courses On Friday


Have-box-will-travel is Richard Hannon's motto, and the horse-boxes will be heading for all four points of the compass on Friday, with runners at Sandown and York in the afternoon and Goodwood and Chepstow in the evening.

The boss said:"It's a busy old time, and we'll need a spare pair of eyes to keep up with what is going on. El Diamante makes her debut against colts in the opener at Sandown. She cost 200,000 Euros at Deauville and is a lovely Royal Applause filly, and she did a nice piece of work on the all-weather at Herridge on Wednesday and is ready to roll.

"We run Poetic Lord in the seven furlong maiden, and he, too, is making his debut. He is a Byron colt who was relatively cheap at 38,000gns, and he is one of the nicest movers we have got, but, though we are having the odd first time out winner, we have not been able to do a serious piece of work on the grass yet, so we always go to the races expecting ours to come on for their first run.

"Sure Route goes for the fillies handicap. She finished second in a similar race at Newbury last time, but the powers-that-be put us up 7lb for getting beat, which seemed a bit strong. However, this is a smashing filly who is improving all the time, and, hopefully, she won't be far away.

 "Avon River tries a mile and a quarter again, having won and run second over the mile in his last two races. He has to get the trip and maybe we will need to switch back, but he is in good form, so we'll give it a go."

Our only runner at York is Right Result in the opening two-year-old race. The boss added:"Right Result has been a warm favourite for both his races, so, hopefully, he can make it third time lucky. He is a big colt who is still a bit weak, but he is in good form at home and we have Kieren Fallon to ride."
We had two winners down at Goodwood last Friday, and we are back on the rolling Sussex Downs with four runners, two in the same.

The boss said:"Puttingonthestyle just got chinned in a handicap at Windsor last time. This is his trip and it's a maiden, and he certainly deserves to win, though it looks competitive."

"We also have Sixx going to Chepstow. He surprised us when winning first time out at Salisbury, and maybe we were being a bit ambitious when then pitching him in the National Stakes at Sandown, though he ran well enough in that Listed race and he will certainly appreciate this extra furlong."