Kevin Stott’s blog: Boonie right up there with Kevin’s best juvenile sprinters

Last Saturday’s William Hill Great St Wilfrid winning jockey Kevin Stott looks ahead to his York rides over the next couple of days.

Gis A Sub – Gimcrack, Friday

Goodwood didn’t go as we had hoped. We decided to try and restrain him a bit from the stalls and find a bit of cover, but he just didn’t settle. They didn’t go much of a pace, and he was too keen throughout the race. Considering how keen he was, he wasn’t actually beaten all that far.

We’re not going to go looking for cover again, we’ll let him bounce him out and use his stride to full affect this time. I think you’ll see a different horse in this compared to Goodwood. He felt as a good as ever when I rode him last week and I’m looking forward to showing everyone what he can do.

Roberto Escobarr – Ebor, Sat

I’m delighted to pick up a nice ride for William Haggas, who has four runners in the race. His two wins have come at the track, including his most recent win over the same distance, and we’ve got a really good draw in five.

He looks very uncomplicated and he’s a nice big horse, so I’d like to think we’re going in there with a live chance. From a jockey’s perspective, it’s a very tactical race and positioning is all-important. You don’t want to be getting squeezed out of a run or forced out wide with no cover, so you’ve got to be on the ball.

Boonie, Listed 2yo, Sat

He’s right up there with Kevin’s [Ryan] best juvenile sprinters. These 5f two-year-olds are a bit different to the 6f performers like Gis A Sub. Boonie is a bit smaller but he’s sharper and very quick on his feet. He’s a very athletic, well-balanced type that will appreciate the return to quicker ground and York suits him.

Conditions went against him at Goodwood. We declared him on good-to-firm ground and it ended up being run on good-to-soft which wasn’t ideal. He still ran a really solid race to finish third given he’s a quick ground horse.

We’ve gone with the cheekpieces to help him focus as he might have been idling a bit, so if they do the job then I think he’ll go very close.

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