NTF 3 to follow from Chester

The Roodee; not everyone's cup of tea but personally I'm fan of the track. For myself I would rather see a horse try and tackle the intricacies of Chester than say the wide open expanses of somewhere like Newmarket.

Chester's May meeting dished up its usual blend of close finishes mixed in with some exciting pattern class performances and here are my three to take from the three day meeting.

ST NICHOLAS ABBEY (3-1-10-4-0 (18) / 1.00 / 0.17)

1st in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes

This was the one I really wanted to see win and win in style. Thankfully that's exactly what this 4yo son of Montjeu did and judging by yesterday's display we now have the 2009 Racing Post Trophy winner firmly back on the scene. It was an oddly run race yesterday and although his opponents may fall just short of the top level it's hard to not be impressed by the way he left them for dead when jockey Ryan Moore pressed the turbo button. Undoubtedly the horse needed his comeback run last time out at the Curragh but what caught my eye the most was how the horse looked and held himself at Chester yesterday. On his seasonal debut in April he looked small, fragile and almost unsure of himself; a horse that seemed to be lacking in confidence. Yesterday he looked bigger, stronger and bursting with power, much more like the horse many people thought he could be. The horses options are wide open and Ballydoyle could take any number of roads with him, I'm excited to see where he turns up next.

NATHANIEL (5-0-16-4-1 (26) / 1.00 / 0.15)

2nd in the Group 3 Chester Vase

I'm not anywhere near convinced John Gosden's colt appreciated the ever turning nature of the Chester circuit. Jockey William Buick always seemed to be having to cajole the 3yo along and it's not until they straightened up for home that the son of Galileo really started to find his feet. The winner Treasure Beach is clearly a smart colt so to only go down by a head is no disaster. Nathaniel has solid form throughout his short career so far and a track where he can stretch his legs more should see him reach the winners enclosure for the 2nd time. I wouldn't rule out Epsom as although it is also an intricate track it is clearly more galloping in nature than Chester. Nathaniel remains a youngster with potential.

SEA ODYSSEY (6-1-9-2-0 (18) / 1.77 / 0.61)

2nd in the Irish Stallion Farms E B F Maiden Stakes (Thursday)

This Dark Angel colt (which obviously is enough to get me interested!!) ran a sound race in 2nd in the 5 furlong maiden from a less than ideal draw (stall 10). The fact the Barry Hills horse was also slightly bumped at the start can't have helped matters so it's a credit to the horse that he ran as well as he did. He showed plenty of early speed to tack across from his unfavourable draw and it surely won't be long before this one adds to his father's excellent start to his freshman sire year.

...and talking of Dark Angel colts....

TRENDING

Its official! The name Trending has been cleared by Weatherbys and our 2yo Dark Angel colt is now no longer nameless!

For those of you that are interested I have added TRENDING to the Thoroughbred Database where you can view his 5 generation pedigree.

Our boy was given a little break after his breeze up sales appearance but trainer Jeremy Gask is now starting to build up his daily work routine in preparation for his racecourse debut (no firm date as yet).

The following video shows TRENDING taking in some work after his short break and I believe it was the first time he was ridden at the farm. All very exciting, especially for a first time owner like myself - 

As you may be aware this is the freshman year for his sire DARK ANGEL and boy has he come out of the blocks firing! So far his figures read - 9 wins from 29 starts (as well as 6 seconds and 3 thirds) with the 9 victories being shared out amongst 7 of his offspring.

Things are looking up for Dark Angel and fingers crossed things are looking promising for TRENDING......

Ben (NTF)