Crowley Calls It: “Muntazah is a decent horse. It’s a good little race”
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Coral Racing Ambassador Jim Crowley takes us through his rides
I enjoyed Chester. It was nice to have a couple of winners on Thursday. Tamleek ran a nice race. He had two options either to go to Chester or to Lingfield and to be honest neither track would have suited him really but they wanted to find out if he’d go round there and see if he’s a Derby horse.
He’s a horse with plenty of ability but you’d have wanted to see him win the Chester Vase to go to Epsom with a realistic chance. There are plenty of nice races for him. He could be a horse for Royal Ascot perhaps.
It’s been a good start to the Flat season proper. I had a treble at Chelmsford the other night and then the two winners at Chester so things are going well.
2.15 Ascot – Mohatem
In the first race I ride Mohatem for Owen Burrows. He’s a lovely horse. He’s up 7lbs for his win over ten furlongs at Yarmouth last time. He’s a nice big galloping horse. Ascot should suit him. I’m really hopeful of a good run from him.
2.50 Ascot – Muntazah
Muntazah ran a good race at Sandown in the Gordon Richards. He’d obviously been off a long time and the ground was soft enough for him. It was actually quite annoying as the Clerk of the Course was calling it Good to Firm and it was clearly soft ground. There were quite a few trainers not happy, John Gosden for example. All the jockeys were coming in describing it as soft ground when it was still officially Good to Firm. I think the Going Stick must have been broken.
Muntazah is a decent horse. It’s a good little race. UAE Prince might be a tough nut to crack but our horse ran a really good race off a layoff at Sandown and he wasn’t far behind the likes of Deauville and Ulysses. I think he should run well.
3.25 Ascot – Epsom Icon
Epsom Icon is carrying top weight here. She hasn’t won since winning the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom last year. She’s come down in the handicap since. She went to Dubai and it didn’t really happen for her over there. It might be hard to give a lot of weight away to this field. There are a couple of progressive horses down the bottom of the weights. I like Aristocratic, Sir Michael Stoute’s filly. Our horse has 9 stone 10 pounds and she’s running against another four year old, Aristocratic, with 8 stone 9 pounds, and she looks like she’s on the way up so it’s going to be a tough assignment. Hopefully she’ll run well anyway.
4.00 Ascot – Hors De Combat
This is a good solid horse. He’s another who went out to Dubai and he ran really well out there being placed a few times. Races like the Victoria Cup are not easy races to win but he’s a good solid horse and I’m sure he’ll run his race.
When it comes to these big field races at Ascot it all depends on where you are drawn. We are drawn 22 tomorrow which is over on the stands side. It then depends where the pace in the race is. You can be riding the favourite in a race like this and be drawn on the wrong side and you can’t win. It’s not easy.
5.10 Ascot – Storm Melody
I rode this horse on his first ever start for Jonjo. I haven’t ridden him since. He won three starts ago. It’s a competitive race and we’re drawn in 2. It’s nice to be back riding for Jonjo. I used to ride a few jumpers for him now and again. He’s a great man to ride for. He never ties you down to instructions and is one of the nicest people you could wish to ride for.
I’m on my travels next week. At the moment it looks as if I’ll be off to Wetherby on Monday, then to Beverley on Tuesday, and then three days at York. It’s a proper Yorkshire tour. I’ll probably come back with a flat cap and a whippet. I will stay up most of the time but I might be doing Newmarket on Thursday night but will know more when the entries are out and we see what’s what. Then at the weekend there is loads of racing everywhere. The main meeting is the Lockinge and I have options in that but we will have to see later in the week.
Jim
