Limato is raring to go
EVERYBODY is happy with Limato heading into the Qatar Prix de la Foret at Chantilly tomorrow and, from a fantastic draw on decent ground, he is the one they have to beat. I rode him in a sixfurlong workout on Tuesday and he felt in typically good form. He’s very straightforward on the gallops as he’s happy to sit in behind his lead horse, usually Twilight Son, and you can produce him when you want. Quickish ground seems on the cards, which is great, and he’s been drawn in stall one, which I’m equally delighted with.
True, a low draw can be a hindrance if you are slowly away – like he was when second in the race 12 months ago – but he’s been pretty good coming out of the stalls this year and if he carries on doing what he’s been doing we will be able to get a decent position and take it from there.
I’ve had a good look at the opposition and nothing jumps off the page.
He’s a tremendously versatile horse – this will be his fourth Group One
race over a fourth distance this year – but it’s a shame there are not seven-furlong races for him in Britain at the top level.
If all goes to plan, his next stop will hopefully be the Breeders’ Cup.
Postponed is the obvious one for me in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He’s incredibly talented, has had a relatively light campaign and is well drawn in stall seven.
He’s been on the go for some time this year but he’s been given plenty of time to rest in between his races and Roger Varian knows the horse well now.
Roger’s horses are in good form now, whereas when Postponed won the Juddmonte International at York in August they weren’t. I think he probably did very well to win that day.
The Arc can be a rough race and, even with a change of venue this year, I doubt it will be any different.
What a tremendous effort by Jim Crowley to break Sir Gordon Richards’s record of having ridden 46 winners in a month.
It’s a huge achievement and he may even surpass Sir Gordon, in advance of yesterday’s racing.
Most people would be happy with 46 winners in a season. In a month? Amazing. Fair play to Jim, he’s been here, there and everywhere and worked very hard.
He’s standing up to his busy schedule remarkably well. He seems fine and is enjoying it.
Riding winners is what all jockeys want to be doing and is what fuels the fire. Jim’s not short of fuel just now!
It looks like the jockeys’ title is in his grasp. He’s opened up a little gap over Silvestre [de Sousa] and, with so much momentum, it is going to be very hard for Silvestre to claw him back.
On a personal level, I’ve also enjoyed the best month of my career – 15 winners compared to my previous best of 13 on a couple of occasions.
It’s been a really solid September with a number of big-priced winners. I’m told that if you had put £10 on all my rides you would be making a profit of more than £600, so hopefully one or two punters have a good word to say about me.
I’m not one for targets, but 60 winners this year was one of them and I’m within sight of that.