Don’t tell the wife but I woke up this morning thinking
about Kevin Stott! No not in that way ;) It was more a mental note to investigate
how a little known jockey (to me at least) had risen to such prominence. A
jockey obviously held in high esteem by Saeed bin Suroor and of late my nemesis!
Disappointed with his ride on Tayma a couple of days ago at
Wolverhampton his name came to my attention twice last night. First on our
selection Evening Rain and perhaps the writing was on the wall after Adam Kirby
in the Godolphin (C. Appleby) white cap rode Fey (11-1) to victory in the 5:10,
rode Victory Megastar (5-2) to victory in the 6:10: a race that Hanagan and
Stott rode two Godolphin entries (both Saeed bin Suroor) and then Four Season (13-8)
for Godolphin (C. Appelby) white cap to beat our selection.
The 7:10 saw Martin Harley at his best on our selection
Grendisar (10-3) sat motionless at the back of the field until weaving through
runners with nothing more than a shake of the reigns until hitting the front. Expectant
of Martin Harley putting distance between him and his rivals as he went in to
the drive, I was reminded that Grendisar is a horse that just does enough!
To our detriment, just doing enough in the 7:40 was Kevin
Stott on Godolphin’s Musaddas as he repelled the late challenge of our final
selection on the card: Khatiba (3-1) under Graham Lee. Khatiba was gobbling up
the ground after sitting mid division throughout the trip and narrowly failed
to get its head in front at the line. In such circumstances you usually question why
the jockey hadn't taken a more prominent position or made an earlier effort. In
the case of Khatiba it was noticeable that Graham Lee had to ride the selection
along just to keep his position throughout the race.
We have some familiar names as selections tonight at Wolverhampton.
In particular the 7:10 where I am warmed by the withdraw of Stonefields Flyer
and fully expect our selection in the race to make amends.
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