Sixteen furlongs on heavy ground (as well as jumping out of this ground nine times) is a long way for three year olds and there were four tired horses going to the last in the Juvenile Hurdle at Fontwell yesterday; but Queen of Steel ran well and was clearly the nearest at the finish after just getting outpaced before two out.

We didn't really know how the Mare would cope in the ground, very pleasing that she did and yesterday's run is something we can build on; as I touched on yesterday, in the right grade and off a mark, she is capable of winning races; she will almost certainly have to improve (likely that she will) but on yesterday's performance you wouldn't rule out her winning in Maiden company over rules.

Perthshire comes back to the track for the ft in over two years (he just had to miss last Tuesday's run at Wolverhampton for an unrelated minor issue); he is fit enough to run and is in good nick but, self evidently, he will come on for running this evening and this is a stepping stone back for him, both in terms of his health and in terms of where we go with him going forward.

Heerathetrack makes his debut over hurdles at Hereford tomorrow afternoon; we are just looking at the declarations for Liberty Bay, Viewfromthestars, the on the cusp of winning Alghazaal and The Bay Warrior at Wolverhampton on Wednesday evening.