Balgair, ran a terrific race against some smart sorts at Great Yarmouth on his first start for the Newmarket Racing Club. As expected, the Mark Johnston trained, Maydanny was always likely to prove the blot on the handicap and he duly obliged but, having cost £1.3million, he really ought to have been winning a race of this nature.
For our part, Tom Clover reported he was very happy with Balgair’s first start for eight months, citing the resumption of racing and the re-organisation of the handicapping system making it easier for horses such as the winner to get in a little more lightly in the handicap than they should have done. Its also true that, because of the dearth of racing, under normal circumstances, Johnston would probably have sought an option closer to home for such a horse and Yarmouth would probably not have been on his agenda.
On that basis, we can consider ourselves a little unlucky that we bumped into him, particularly as jockey, Jack Mitchell indicated that had he been able to come through the middle of the field, as he is a horse who enjoys the hurly burly and passing horses, he felt he may well have been a good second.
The good news is he came home sound and well, has eaten up well and is ready to do battle again. We’ll be looking at the options for him and will explore the races the BHA have put on under the resumption of racing banner and will keep you posted.
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