Jim Crowley likes all his six rides on Craven day one

Elarqam works before racing at Newmarket at 12.35pm. I’m really looking forward to sitting on him. All the reports have been really positive about him. He seems to have wintered well and has been working well.  He’ll have this racecourse gallop and then he’ll head straight to the 2000 Guineas.

1.50 Newmarket  – Elhafei

He’s only had the one run and that was at Lingfield where he ran a promising race. He had a bad draw that day but stayed on really well, and a couple of winners have come out of that race. Hopefully he should have a really good chance.

It’s a Newmarket maiden and over the winter some of these horses will have improved massively so you have to bear that in mind. I haven’t ridden work on my horse this season but I did like him last year.

I chose Elhafei ahead of Bawaasil and Ibraz. I rode Ibraz last year when he finished fifth in a Newmarket maiden which was an okay race, and it’s the first time on the track for Bawaasil, but I felt that Elhafei was the horse to ride.

2.25 Newmarket – Jawwaal  

I haven’t ridden this horse on either of his starts and I haven’t had a chance to get in and ride work on him yet either. I know John was very keen on him and had this race in mind for both him and Elhafei (who runs in the first division of the race). There are some decent horses in the race and it’s a maiden that always throws up good winners. Hopefully my horse will run a nice race.

This is a fun time of year riding the new crop of three year olds and there will be a few nice surprises along the way. There will even be some horses that didn’t run last year that will pop up and impress, so hopefully there will be a few good surprises.

4.10 Newmarket – Mafaaheem

It was no easy decision picking Mafaaheem over Almoreb. It was really tough; a flick of a coin job. I came down in favour of Mafaaheem because I’d been in and ridden work on him and he was working well. If there is any soft in the ground he will like it, so he won’t want the ground to dry up too much. He was second on Good to Firm at Yarmouth but he has won on Heavy and he goes well on Soft. He’s been gelded over the winter, and he looks really progressive so I’m looking forward to riding him. He’s drawn close to the stand’s rail which can be a good place to be at Newmarket. He’s a forward runner anyway.

The same can be said for Almoreb of Richard Hannon’s. He didn’t quite see out the mile and a quarter on heavy ground at Salisbury last time out so can be forgiven for that run. So it would be no surprise if the black cap beats the blue and white striped cap in this race.

4.45 Newmarket – Arbalet

I don’t know much about this horse. I haven’t ridden him. He won at Redcar last year and was third to Masar in the Solario at Sandown, so they obviously think a lot of the horse. I read that he’s had a wind op and he’s wearing a first time tongue-tie so he’s obviously had a few little issues there. If that’s worked then he could be interesting. It’s nice to be riding for Hugo Palmer. I had a lot of success for him two seasons ago when I was Champion Jockey.

5.20 Newmarket – Donncha

This is an interesting runner. He’s raced in all the big handicaps over the years. I read that he had excuses in the Lincoln last time out so may have place chances. Robert Eddery is a very shrewd trainer. Hopefully he can run a decent race.

5.55 Newmarket – Evergate

I won on him when he was trained by Hugo Palmer. I have always liked this horse. Robert bought him last year and I knew he’d be a horse that would do well for Robert. He’s an interesting horse and could run well.