Charlie Hills’ William Hill blog: No ground concerns for Mutasaabeq

William Hill ambassador Charlie Hills looks ahead to his runners on Saturday from Goodwood and Windsor, as well as giving the lowdown on plans for some of his stable stars.

Goodwood, Saturday

Mutasaabeq has been pleasing us at home and we’re very happy with him ahead of Saturday’s William Hill Celebration Mile (3:35).

He’s won on soft ground, heavy ground and good ground, so he’s very versatile in that sense.

We’re obviously a short-price favourite for the race, but there’s no doubt it will take a bit of winning.

Ed Walker’s Stormy Antarctic goes well on soft ground and his horses are running well at the moment, so he’s certainly an obvious danger.

These small-field Group races can get a bit messy, but fingers crossed it’s a fairly run race and we can show our best.

Windsor, Saturday

I’m also taking the chance to try out Tommy De Vito (5:34) on the soft ground at Windsor. He’s been doing really well at home, and I just thought that with some of his form on slow all-weather surfaces, a bit of give in the ground might suit – let’s see.

Racing League

I was delighted with Menai Bridge winning in the Racing League at Newcastle on Thursday. He’s had a very busy year, running 10 times in total, and he’s been very consistent so deserved to get his head in front.

It was a nice ride form Marco [Ghiani] over a track and trip that clearly suited him.

The Racing League prize money is brilliant, and Menai Bridge has won over £100,000 now. He may not be done with yet either, as I’m going to speak to Matt Chapman about another possible run for him in the coming weeks.

All is going well with Chapman as our Team Manager at the moment, but we’ve obviously been doing pretty well so I’m not so sure how bad a loser he is.

Future plans

Looking further ahead and Khaadem is still on track for the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh, though he does hold an entry into the Sprint Cup at Haydock, it just depends how the ground turns up.

Elsewhere, Syndeyarms Chelsea is being trained for the Rockfel Stakes, and maybe a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup, and we’re planning Dark Shift towards the Superior Mile at Haydock.

And a final word for Mark Johnston. He and the team should all be very proud of themselves for hitting 5,000 winners.

He’s obviously got a great system in place up there and everyone must work very, very hard.