28th-May-2016

I am happy with (our ante post bet on) La Rioja.  We are well ahead of the market with her.

Now that she is a runner, I am also getting Quiet Reflection on side this morning.  Karl Burke’s filly was a really nice filly last season as a juvenile.  She was well beaten in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes, but she rounded off the season by winning a listed race at Ayr and a Group 3 race at Newmarket, both over five furlongs.

She proved that she could be just as effective over six furlongs, however, on her debut this season at Chantilly, when she won a Group 3 race on heavy ground.  She showed a nice turn of foot that day to hit the front on the run to the furlong pole, but she had to see out the trip in the conditions, which she duly did, getting home by a head from Jimmy Two Times, and leaving the impression that she had more in hand than the bare winning margin.

She is going to have to step forward again if she is to win today, but she is progressive, she has now won four of her five races, and she shapes now as if she will be a better three-year-old than two-year-old.  She could out-run her odds by a fair way.

Fillies have a really good record in this race, they have won three of the last seven renewals (they have also provided five of the 11 places from just 24% of the runners), and I am happy to have both fillies in this year’s renewal on side.

QUIET REFLECTION WON (ADV 15/2, SP 7/1)