Lots To Be Excited About

There is a lot of excitement in the air at Head Quarters ahead of the Guineas this weekend. We at Egerton House Stables have different reasons to be excited about it.

Starting with Maristar’s debut run of 2012 in the Grade 2 “La Troienne” at Churchill Downs on Friday. The race conditions are perfect for her; one mile and one sixteenth against fillies and mares of 4yo and upwards on the Dirt and for a purse of $300,000. 

She has been training very nicely in Keenland and clocking some impressive times in her breeze’s. Yesterday she made the short journey from Keenland to set up camp at Churchill Downs. She settled into her familiar surroundings and Andrew was very pleased with her first day on the track this morning. 

Nordic Quest broke his maiden in impressive styles through the mud at Windsor last Monday. He raced very greenly still coming off and on the bridle but put his best foot forward when it mattered. He still has a lot to learn yet and I’m sure he will have much more to offer in future races. He came home very fresh and well and has gone straight back into normal training whilst enjoying a couple of hours in the paddock on a daily basis, weather permitting. 

Cala Santanyi & Zain Princess were both declared this morning to run at Pontefract on Wednesday. The ground there seems to be drying up slightly and is officially “Heavy, Soft in places”. They are not forecast any more rain before Wednesday so we might have some decent ground to run on. Both fillies races look competitive enough but we are more than happy with both of them. 

Pedigree wise, Zain Princess should relish softer ground and she has been improving for every race. She has crept up in the weights but has every chance of being in the shake up.

Cala Santanyi does hold an entry for the 1m4f handicap at Newmarket on Sunday should the ground at Pontefract become unsuitable.

Prince Alzain has been entered into the 1m2f Listed event at Newmarket on Saturday. He has improved again for his last run and has been training very well at home. We think the step up in trip will play to his strengths and the track will suit him perfectly. This will be his first run on the grass since he was a very close 4th at Windsor last year. We have every confidence he is as effective on the turf as he is on the AWT and we are really looking forward to running him.

Our last piece of excitement for the week will be Zaina who runs in the Pretty Polly stakes on Sunday. The race she won so readily at Doncaster has since produced 3 winners and a close second so on paper she looks to be going into the race with every chance. We are thrilled with how she recovered from her race and are glad that she has held onto all her condition nicely. She has done some very smart pieces of work on the flat gallop alongside the Rowley Mile and the track and race conditions could have been made specifically for her.