Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 10 August 2026

In past years I have steered away from betting seriously on older horse maiden races from around July-time.

This is based on my belief that if horses aged three or older are still maidens at that stage of their career they are either no good, have been backward or have issues.

However, I may need to modify my thinking on this matter following the debuts, albeit belatedly, of two horses last week at Ffos Las on Tuesday and then the following day at Kempton.

Backward? Maybe. Issues? Who knows? But ‘no good.’? I think not.

The first was the victory of Wootz in a 1m Class 4 maiden at Ffos Las, a race in which the only one of the eight runners with a rating was John Butler’s 11-race maiden Arbaawy.

Roger Varian had passed a reasonably upbeat comment about Wootz in a pre-season interview with Mark Howard, saying he was unraced last season due to a setback, but had shown ability at home and was a colt he liked. He hoped that he would make his debut in the spring, so perhaps the further delay betrays an ongoing problem.

Wootz was keen for a few strides leaving the stalls but was soon settled in fourth. He didn’t seem to be going especially well early in the straight but, upon entering the final furlong, he shot clear and pulled away to win by a long-looking six and a half lengths from the well-bred Mountain Of Light, with the 76-rated Arbaawy setting the marker a head away in third.

A strict interpretation of that form, based on 2lbs a length over a mile, would indicate a mark of about 90 for the winner.

I can add that James Horton, the trainer of the runner-up, has always rated her quite highly and this third run will earn her a mark in the mid to high 70s, off which she should be effective.

As a caveat we should note that Mythological Star covered the same trip in a time 2.4 seconds faster half an hour later, with 2lbs more to carry.

I won’t pretend that I’m particularly au fait with sectionals, but the report afterwards suggests they were quick, following a modest early pace.

Wootz is bred to stay a little further than a mile, perhaps a mile and a half. He definitely appeared to have more to offer as he powered through the line.

I imagine that he’ll be aimed at a novice or conditions race before thoughts turn to higher things. At this stage the trainer will have the colt’s physical wellbeing uppermost in mind.

Just over 24 hours later we saw an even more eye-catching debut, this time in a 1m 3f novice stakes at Kempton.

There did not appear to be a great deal of market confidence behind Fortitudine, who drifted from 5/2 to 7/2 behind the 5/6 favourite Dialstone, who was beaten a head on his stable debut at Ffos Las in June.

James Doyle was sharply out of the gate from his wide draw in stall 11 and took the early lead, evidently in the belief that he was riding a galloper rather than a horse with gears.

It became apparent turning for home that he was unlikely to be caught, as he drew further clear to beat Dialstone by 21 lengths, with Treble Bass a length and a half further back in third.

Afterwards James Doyle admitted that the margin of victory came as a surprise and a couple of days later Charlie Appleby said the gelding had looked only ordinary in his work.

There were no rated horses in the field, so it requires some tenuous form lines to put forward a rating, but Dialstone’s conqueror at Ffos Las was rated on 78, which, at 1lb a length would put Fortitudine on 100. I suspect that he will be a few pounds higher than that, perhaps around 105.

Given he is a full brother to the remarkable Rebel’s Romance—a 22-time winner from a mile to 1m 6f  who earned over £12 million in prize money—and a half-brother to the dual Group 1 winner Measured Time, who stayed a mile and a half, one could easily envisage Fortitudine getting further.

Already gelded, his winning time was over a second faster than Shadow Road, a 25/1 chance, took in the second division.

I’m not sure which of my categories Fortitudine would have fitted into before the race … perhaps something between ‘backward’ and ‘no good’ … but at least he didn’t appear as one of Godolphin’s chuck-outs at the midsummer sales.

Given the amount of prize-money that can be won by older horses on the world stage, connections may be showing more patience in their handling of unraced stock.

In the light of these developments I will put my cynicism to one side and amend my thinking accordingly.

Bye for now

Why wait a week? Our subscribers received this edition, written on 10 August, direct to their inbox.

Receive Marten’s free horse racing publication Weekly Roundup, the day it is written in full for free every Monday evening by clicking here & signing up for our free Newsletter.

© Copyright in all Marten Julian Publications is strictly reserved by the publishers. No material therein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from Marten Julian.