Spanish Mission off to Australia

Spanish Mission is leaving Kingsclere on Thursday to head to Newmarket, where he will have to quarantine for two weeks before getting on a plane to Australia.

Travel restrictions mean we can’t send our own staff, which isn’t ideal, but we hope that we’ve got around that with the kind assistance of some very able help in Australia. The horse is very straightforward and, with the fantastic modern technology, we can keep our fingers on the pulse at all times.

Providing he travels well, he’s got the ability to run a big race in either the Caulfield Cup or the Melbourne Cup in the coming weeks.

Thursday at Doncaster

Harrow 4/1 put up a smart performance last time in what was a strong nursery at York. This has been his target for a long time, and I hope he can run a big race (14:10). The one slight worry is that I don’t know how he’ll go on the slightly shorter trip on what looks like very fast ground.

Robasta 20/1 is pretty solid. I don’t really know what went wrong at Goodwood last time as we expected him to run much better than he did. He’s worked well since and, although he has a bit to find on official ratings, he does get his ideal conditions (14:10).

Speak 13/2 is a filly we like a lot. This looks a competitive race (14:40), and the favourite will be tough to beat. We’ll have a look at the ground in the morning as I’m sure she’ll be better with slight ease in the ground.

Tribal Craft 8/1 is another who is going to travel but we will take a view on the ground after a couple of races. We’re hoping they at least get the top end of the rain, so it’s not rattling quick (15:15).

One Epsom runner

Mercurius Power SP should have a very good chance at Epsom. He’s in good form and everything should be in his favour (17:00).