Tashweeq will be subject of serious focus in the two-year-old Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs of good ground Newmarket July course today; serious-minded professionals intent on making a journey to HQ and making it pay!
On a point of classification Newmarket maidens are the pinnacle; experience is needed to know exactly what is required to win them and trainer John Gosden will be aware that once-raced Tashweeq certainly ticks enough boxes judged on his second to Justice Day over a similar distance on soft' at Newbury a fortnight back.
Well-backed on the strength of promising gallops, Tashweeq was a bit sluggish early on under Paul Hanagan but soon settled into a smooth rhythm; at halfway this Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned Big Bad Bob colt began to take issue but found the David Elsworth-trained favourite, which made all, too strong in the closing stages.
Others were nigh on four lengths and upwards in arrears, testimony to the strong gallop which sorted out the wheat from the chaff.
Genuine pace is vital to compute times accurately and the reason why we prefer to analyse and select races of seven furlongs or less; obviously not all are run strongly but the majority are and experience indicates when that is not the case. Two-year-olds are my speciality and solving the annual jigsaw the ultimate fascination.
In summary the time-handicap mark achieved by Tashweeq wins this-type race nine times out of ten!An eight-race programme commences with two divisions of the 2-y-o Maiden Fillies' Stakes over seven furlongs; several have posted 'alf decent TH marks but none good enough and so it would be a guessing game as to what they will do second time out and how good a clutch of well-bred un-raced types are; never guess!
One of five other scheduled fixtures is at Goodwood where a soft surface shouldn't hinder prospects of Richard Hannon-trained Hairdryer in the six-runner two-year-old Maiden Stakes over a mile; third time lucky is expected.
Just skirting through other juvenile races and came across Young Windsor and Ann Duffield's charge appears thrown in the nursery handicap over six furlongs at Hamilton where it's forecast good for an evening fixture.A good each-way bet if all eight run!