Kevin Stott’s Blog: Feeling Buoyant ahead of Newmarket

It’s been a busy week at Goodwood with a bit of success. Friday brings a change of scene to Newmarket for five rides, and hopefully could bring a winner too. 

Newmarket, Friday 

The first of my rides at Newmarket is Lost In Music in the six-furlong novice stakes (5.45pm). This is the first time out for the Churchill gelding, who’s trained by Brian Meehan. He is a well-related horse and most of his family continued to get better the further they went up in trip, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him need at least a mile or further in time. It is only a small field of eight and a couple of them have got experience, so he’s going to have to produce a nice debut performance to win.

In the second, I have another for Brian Meehan over six furlongs with Beach Buoy (6.20pm). He is making his seasonal reappearance here after a good break over the winter. He won on debut when putting in a tough performance at Kempton on the all-weather and he’s over the same trip as that day. Brian is happy with how he has been training at home and it feels like he could run a big race on his return. A couple of these are in good form, like Swiss Star for Roger Varian, but he could still be the one to beat on handicap debut.

Another horse who won on debut but has slightly lost her way since is Moogie who runs in the mile and a half fillies’ handicap (6.55pm). She returned to the turf last time out at Doncaster when never really getting involved. That was on soft ground, though, and hopefully, the surface at Newmarket will be better, but there is rain about. It is another competitive race and she will have to bounce back to form and improve on her last performance.

After that, I’ll ride Purple Love in the mile handicap at 7.30pm. She has been pleasing at home and returns to the track having been off for a while. She was ultimately a bit disappointing last year, especially on her debut at Newbury when, despite being well-fancied, she ran below what her homework had been suggesting. She runs over a mile following a big lay-off and hopefully, with that extra year on her back, she can take a step forward. She will need to improve on what she has shown in what is naturally a hot-looking Newmarket novice event.

Finally, in the seven-furlong handicap (8.30pm), Maxi Boy is probably the best chance of the day with cheekpieces on for the first time. There had been a lot of rain last time out at Newmarket and, in the testing conditions, he didn’t enjoy himself. I feel like we will ride him a bit more prominently this time around and the better ground will be a massive advantage to his chances. He looks to be the best chance of a winner on the night and I’m hopeful that the cheekpieces can make a big difference.