Hugo Palmer: He’s in great nick and we are very happy with him at home
Published:
Top trainer and Coral ambassador Hugo Palmer discusses his runners at Chester on Saturday and picks out three newcomers from his yard to follow in the autumn.
It’s Not Risky is a lovely big horse, and he’s full of character but he was quite badly behaved on his debut at Haydock last time. He does seem to have grown up a fair bit at home for that experience, so hopefully we’ll see evidence of that on Saturday. I thought the ground was a bit quick for him at Haydock, so hopefully it will just be nice good ground at Chester which should be ideal for him.
I’m looking forward to his second start, but he is going to need to take a decent step forward from that debut effort. There are a couple horses rated 80 in here, so they certainly set a decent standard for us to aim at, but he’s managed to get the plum draw in stall one, so hopefully he’ll get away well and I’m sure he’ll give it a good go.
Terratino Fire is ready to make his debut now, and although our horses rarely win first time out, he has been going well at home. He’s got a good draw in stall three as long as he gets it right and gets away well. If you’re green and slow into stride from a decent draw at Chester then it can be very difficult to get yourself back into contention, and although he has been very good in the stalls at home, it’s often very different when they get to the racecourse.
His father Buratino was a precocious speedy two-year-old who managed to win the Coventry, but the dam was unraced and hasn’t managed to produce a winner yet, so we’ll learn as we go with regards to what trip he wants, but visually he does look more of a sprinting type, and I doubt he’ll ever want to go any further than a mile.
I’m sure this horse will win races, so hopefully he can learn plenty tomorrow, and if he gets away and gets into a good position, then I think he’s capable of running a nice race.
Roman Dragon hasn’t had a lot of luck with the draw this year, but he’s in stall two this time, so we are very happy with that. He has four wins at Chester now, and I think we need seven to break the record for most wins at the track, so hopefully we can take one step closer to that on Saturday.
He’s in great nick at the moment and we are very happy with him at home. He showed the last day that he is fast enough for this trip, but he can’t quite dominate over it like he does over further, but hopefully he can get a good start, and if he does then I’m sure he’ll run another big race here.
Horses to follow for the autumn
We have a new horse who has come from France called L’Astronome who we are really looking forward to getting started with. He won a Group 2 at Longchamp for Francis Henri Graffard last year, so he’s definitely a nice addition to the yard. He’s been here about a month now and seems to have settled in really well, and he might run in the September Stakes at Kempton next week, so he’s definitely one to keep an eye out for.
We also have a few unraced two-year-olds we are looking forward to getting on the track. Solara is a daughter of Too Darn Hot who’s closely related to Dubawi Legend, and we think a lot of her, so we are very excited to get her started. We also have a lovely Camelot filly called Kitteridge who’s worth keeping an eye on, so we have some really nice young horses to look forward to, and its always nice when they are still unraced as it keeps the dream alive!
Hugo
