Hugo Palmer weekend runners blog: 'Fingers-crossed, they can both run well'

Hugo Palmer has six runners this weekend, so join the leading trainer as he previews all his horse racing action in his latest Coral blog.

We’ve had to be incredibly patient with Flaming Rib, he’s just taken a long, long time to come back to himself, but now, finally, he looks great.  He’s drawn in stall one here, which is a big plus, it’s a track we know he likes, so if there’s any of the old Flaming Rib left, I hope we’ll see it here.  We’ll ride him positively, go forward with him as that’s how he likes to be ridden.

Balon d’Or is different in that he will have a target to aim at, we’re back on quicker ground here which should suit, and fingers-crossed, they can both run well,

After he won his first three starts for us it looked like the sky was the limit for this horse, but following two defeats, it's now looking like the floor is his limit, so hopefully we can get back to aiming for the sky now!

He's had his wind tweaked, he had it done when he was with Olly Murphy, but these things never last forever, and we had to try something because of the way he just stopped so suddenly in his last two races and there were no other visible signs that could explain that.  If that works, I can see him running a massive race.

I'm not a statistician but I would think the odds on a horse getting as many bad draws as this horse has are about the same as winning the EuroMillions twice in one week!  He's drawn 8 of 8 here, OK if he was 8 of 14 we probably wouldn't be feeling quite so despondent, but the fact that he is widest of all once again really is quite extraordinary.

He did run very well over course and distance in the first time visor last time, so that's why we're bringing him back here for more of the same, and hopefully he can take another step forward.

This horse was very unlucky at York last time, beaten just a shorthead, and the time before that here at Chester he didn’t quite stay 7 ½ furlongs, so back to 7 here should help.  Drawn 8 of 9 isn’t ideal, but Richard Kingscote is a master around here, so we’ll leave it to him.  I hope they’ll have every chance.

We were delighted with Patagonia Girl’s win at Salisbury last time, ten furlongs on quick ground is what she wants, she’s very tough, she looks great, and I think there’s more to come from her.  It’s another draw where Richard Kingscote will have to work his magic, but we’re looking forward to this.

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