This evening we take Arlecchino’s Leap to Chelmsford for just the second time in his career; he ran well there, going on over six furlongs, in December 2015 so the seven furlongs this evening, which suits him better as he has got older, and the track should both be fine. He has had a curtailed season, creating a fair bit of difficulty all round with his aversion to the stalls but, with some intensive and prolonged schooling, we are collectively confident that this is well in the past. He is a naturally talented horse (self evidently he must be to be running off 81!!) who is capable of travelling into his races with considerable ease and he will improve for his first run back earlier in the month; there would be worse each way bets at Chelmsford this evening given the double figure prices floating around.

Bird for Life travels with Arlecchino’s Leap and runs in the Mile Handicap an hour later; she comes from a family with several guys who have done well over further than sprint distances and, although she has made a fairly slow start to her career on the track, we are looking for her to improve as she goes up in trip and is eased in the weights. Her race this evening has a largish field and is pretty competitive for the grade with a whole series of quite in form guys in opposition; but she was keeping on steadily over seven in her first run in a handicap at Kempton a fortnight ago and we will look for some more improvement in Essex this evening.