Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 17 June 2024

Having lived in Ascot for many years I can fully appreciate the quandary clerk of the course Chris Stickles faces over watering. The area is prone to very localised thunderstorms and flash floods, with torrential rain capable of changing the ground without warning.

This week those conditions now seem unlikely, but a week ago rain was forecast every day up until this Thursday but it has not arrived to any great extent leaving the ground good to firm and good in places.

As a result watering is likely to take place both on the straight course and the round course to maintain the ground as it is.

We will learn more after seeing the time and hearing what the jockeys say after the opening Queen Anne Stakes.

Royal Ascot will obviously dominate the week’s racing but it’s important to keep your eyes peeled elsewhere. Many years ago I remember Barney Curley landing one of his touches on Grand National day somewhere up North – it may have been Newcastle – when everyone was focused on Aintree.

One horse who caught my eye last week was Petrol Head, who defied a 708-day layoff when winning an extended 2m 1f handicap hurdle at Downpatrick on Saturday.

Backed down from 9/1 to 7/2, he is trained by Katy Brown, about whom I know nothing, but he was formerly with Ronan McNally for whom he last won at Roscommon in July, 2022, from a 10lbs lower mark having been beaten an aggregate of 227 lengths in his previous four starts.

McNally was banned for 12 years for integrity breaches in 2023, including preventing Dreal Deal and The Jam Man from running on their merits.

I have said many times before that there are a select few horses that can be switched on and off, hence my oft-quoted maxim ‘once a job horse, always a job horse’, and judging by Petrol Head’s past record he is a prime example.

As those of you who subscribe to my Daily Bulletin were aware, my patience with Tolstoy was rewarded when he won a 7f apprentice handicap at York on Friday.

I had written extensively about the five-year-old last season, arguing that his pedigree and style of racing pointed to his being suited by a return to seven furlongs, having run just once over that trip at Brighton last June, when he finished second.

Rated last week on 74, 22lbs lower than his peak when with John Gosden, he came home strongly to win by a couple of lengths before following up on Saturday, from 1lb out of the handicap.

Readers of my Weekend Card will recall us waiting over a year for Sehayli to win back in 2020, but then in the interest of balance I have been adopting the same policy with Zu Run and he disappointed yet again on Saturday.

I have made it my business to try and spot these long-term plots, or projects as they are now known, but there are far fewer these days than was once the case.

It’s really a matter of knowing where to look, but in my experience even trainers with big strings have a few horses that need to start their careers from workable handicap marks if they are ever to win.

This is more a matter of expediency than subterfuge, but even so there are still a few handlers who need to back a winner or two to make ends meet.

One trainer who seems to have become racing’s forgotten man is Marcus Tregoning. The heady days of Derby winner Sir Percy and Nayef are long gone, but he is an astute placer of his horses and he currently has his string in tremendous form.

One horse of his that I am keen to bring to your notice is Kirstin Rausing’s Alerta Maxima, a two-year-old daughter of Circus Maximus out of a Group-placed daughter of Sir Percy and a granddaughter of dual Champion Stakes winner Alborada.

This filly must be useful to have won a 6f maiden at Goodwood given her stout pedigree and I have no doubt that black type beckons when she is stepped up in trip.

I’ll be back next week with a few more observations.

Bye for now

Marten

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