Up a bit, down a bit - 30th May

Hoofalong began last week by winning the Class4 Handicap at Windsor on Monday by a nose from Riskit Fora Biskit with 2 lengths back to Smart Spender in third. The winner now heads for the 3yo handicap at York (formerly Reg Griffin) with his assistant trainer commenting he is better over 6f with give. The second is all speed and nearly prevailed and in doing so she recorded a good speed figure. The winner has been raised 5lb to 82, the second 6lb to 91 and the third 2lb to 82.

There wasnt a great deal on midweek to report about with Lucky Numbers winning as you would expect on the softer going at Catterick.

At Chester on Saturday Summerinthecity beat Intransigent in the Class 3 Handicap over 6f by 2 lengths with a further 2 lengths back to the well handicapped Gatepost in third. The winner has gone up 6lb to 91 and may struggle to win again as he had lost his last 15 races. Intransigent stays on the same mark of 92, whilst the third drops another pound to 87 and looks sure to come good sooner or later.

At Haydock it was Temple Stakes day and the race didnt go to plan for Sole Power whose jockey chose to track the leaders on the stand side until he had no option but to go on to take up the lead. Normally Sole Power is delivered late on and on this occasion his bid to win not suprisingly flattened out and he wasnt able to sustain his effort for long and he was overtaken. The winner was his scalp at Newmarket Kingsgate Native who had shown there that he was back to his best. At Haydock, one of his favourite tracks, it was difficult to understand his starting price of 14/1 a point that wouldnt bother his trainer Robert Cowell who added to his sprinting CV. Kingsgate Native managed to prevail by a neck from Swiss Spirit who had a bit of a nightmare passage and did well to end up where he did and John Gosden may have hopes of a Group 1 winner to come in the sprint division. Reckless Abandon was coming into this against his elders and Clive Cox's charge didnt dissapoint on his first start of the season and they must have every hope that he can also claim another Group win. Back against a bigger field of runners you could see Sole Power running better than this if Murtagh is back in the saddle.

Finally Ed De Giles's Kingsgate Choice got reward for his string of good runs by beating York Glory by half a length at York over 5f, he also did it from stall 2 which on recent results was a good effort and his 4lb rise should keep him in the mix for furture races. York Glory has been raised 2lb to 100 and Lady Gibraltar in third 1lb to 87. Barnet Fair in 6th was finishing fast and late, as is his want, and he may be about to strike.