King George Day

Good evening or morning depending where you are in the world I hope the weather is nice for you today and you are ready for some horse racing. First of all my apologies for last week and the absence of a blog update, I was busy moving out of my place in Canada. Now I am back in England racing will be far easier to keep up to date with and also it means the end of waking up at 5am!

This time last week we were starry eyed over the clash between St Nicholas Abbey and Cirrus Des Aigles. Tragically our dreams were scuppered early this week when St Nicholas Abbey suffered a career ending injury. As im sure you know by now he underwent surgery to fix a fractured pastern which all went well and he was stable. Mother Nature wasn't done yet and yesterday he was diagnosed with Colic which if you dont know is very deadly in horses. He has been rushed into an emergency surgery but we will have to wait on the results, all we can do is pray that he can be saved. Come on St Nic, just one last fight, we are all with you here!

Martin will be running a Glorious Goodwood Pigeon Swoop in which prizes shall be awarded for the best player each day. As always you can enter via twitter, send your selections to the chosen four races to @Pigeon_Island to enter daily. You can check the results from the day before and see my selections for Goodwood at www.pigeonscoop4.wordpress.com along with other features!

With no review of last week to be done I will have to leave this intro short and get straight into the important stuff.

2:05 Ascot - Fig Roll

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of Fig Roll, not just because her best friend is a cat, but because of her outstanding attitude. From her first run she has known her job and beyond her duties when really stretching her neck when asked for an effort. She was a creditable fourth in the Queen Mary behind Rizeena when staying on well over five furlongs. Immediately she was stepped up to 6 furlongs which she won over at Newmarket and then ran a nice fourth in a Group 2. The problem with them two runs is that I dont think she really appreciated the course at all as her head was cocked to the right the whole time. She had no such problems at Ascot and im pretty certain we haven't seen the best of Fig Roll just yet. Dropped in class the gutsy Fig Roll can land the opener at Ascot to start off a great day of racing. (10/1)

2:55 York - Grandeur

Jeremy Noseda has been absolutely flying as of late and his stable star takes to the course today after having his prep run at Newmarket. He ran fantastically that day but race fitness told in the end and he was forced to settle for fourth behind Universal in the Princess of Wales's. There will be no excuses this time and despite the strong opponent in Mukhadram he should more than hold his own. Again regular readers will also know how highly I regard Grandeur and since his Maiden win at Brighton have considered him Group 1 class. Grandeur is the only one making the trip from Newmarket, where Jeremy Noseda is based and with Frankie Dettori getting the leg up should take some beating. Grandeur to prove his class and use this as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. (7/1)

3:15 Ascot - Glen Moss

Today's more risky selection in a 29 runner handicap on the straight course at Ascot. Charlie Hills swerved the Royal meeting with his 4 year old, instead going to a smaller race at Doncaster in which he won after fourth in a bigger handicap. There is every chance that, that win is just what he needed to put the wind in his sails and give him a confidence boost. For the moment, 7 furlongs looks his ideal trip after a good effort in the Victoria Cup off a pound lower in the weights. Mickael Barzalona is an eyecatching jockey booking however and it would be no surprise to see Glen Moss finally confirm his potential today. Glen Moss to land this down the bottom of the weights. (25/1)

3:50 Ascot - Cirrus Des Aigles

For me Cirrus Des Aigles is the banker of the day month and flat season, I was shocked to see people claiming there is no star in this years King George. Here we have the highest rated horse in the world currently in training and lets not forget a horse that ran Frankel to a length and three quarters. The day he was beaten by Frankel it wasn't stamina that beat him, it was his speed, but no horse could go with the magnificent Frankel. I feel that anybody poking holes in Cirrus Des Aigles' form is a person that is looking for him to get beat. Last time out he was put firmly in his place by the reopposing Novellist, but when his chance had gone Olivier Peslier relaxed on him and asked for no more. History has also told us that Cirrus Des Aigles is never 100% first time out and this year was no different, but we wont know for sure until 3:55pm today. All we can go on is the very strong reports from his connections and that fact the if fully fit he is streets ahead of todays rivals. Cirrus Des Aigles to confirm his superiority. (6/4)

NAP - Cirrus Des Aigles
Nb - Grandeur

Happy punting today guys and remember, no matter what result of the King George, keep poor old St Nicholas Abbey in your thoughts.