A Smart Dam
Shufoog under Ellie ran really well in Newbury’s Lady Amateur Handicap, going on throughout the last furlong and a half to be third, beaten under four lengths; she remains in excellent nick, is developing into a really useful and effective dual purpose Mare and she should continue to be competitive either Jumping or on the Flat.
Black Truffle ran the kind of turf race he often does, not beaten far, slightly one paced when it mattered but going on; he is a better horse on the artificial surfaces and you might expect him to back on the tapeta and polytrack directly.
Point in Time will look to build on her nice Newmarket performance at Leicester tomorrow afternoon.
It has been a busy week with 17 runners since last Monday afternoon that yielded two winners and seven placed horses and you have to be pleased (although we can always do better!!) both with that strike rate and that the string as an entity is in good health. Those two winners, Misu Pete and Mistry, have both been thrown from the same Irish Bred Mare, Smart Ass (a name incidentally that wouldn’t be allowed in the UK version of the GSB); Smart Ass is also the dam of Miracle of Medinah, who was such a cracking G3 winning two year old and one time fifth favourite for the 2014 2000 Guineas and who is still such an effective 95 rated six and seven furlong person when he has the conditions (and is in the upcoming Ayr Gold Cup). Miracle of Medinah, Misu Pete and Mistry have won 14 races between them and been placed a further 21 times winning some £142k in prizemoney for SH and for Rowdown; altogether a terrific record for the Mare;it was something of a special week for both of the dams offspring to win in the space of five days.
Smart Ass herself won five races, four of them at Southwell and the other at Newmarket and was rated 78, her highest ever mark, when she retired from the track in the Autumn of 2007. She does have a 2015 Casamento Filly, named Smart Lass, who is trained in Ireland by JJ Feane, and who has run twice in good class three year old Maidens at Gowran and at Leopardstown without making too much of an impact in either race. She also has an unraced 2016 Filly by Roderic O’Connor and a yearling by Born to Sea, both currently in Ireland; Rowdown will be keeping a close eye on both of those two!!