Ante-Post

    I was in Germany over the weekend so missed AP's final day in the saddle and I forgot to record it as well. I was in Cologne for a concert and lucked out in noticing that Krefeld Racecourse, which is about 50km north of the city, had a meeting yesterday. It's a quaint little course and with no knowledge of any of the horses I basically chose my 10euro per race bets purely on paddock inspection. I managed to get the winner of the first race and in the big one - the Group 3 Dr. Busch Memorial, I felt the 2/5F Karpino was overshadowed by a horse called Ajalo in the paddock. This animal was trading at around 20/1 at the time on the Tote and was only collared in the last half furlong or so by the odds-on jolly. Anyway, I really enjoyed my visit and intend to hopefully go to more foreign gaff tracks in the future.

    My faith in Estidhkaar for Saturday's 2000 Guineas has not been dampened by his owner supplementing one of his other horses into the race. Sheikh Hamdan has very deep pockets and likes to go into big races mob handed if he can - he let Dermot Weld run Tarfasha in the Oaks despite having Taghrooda for the race last June. I'll be topping up on the day.

    I've taken a position on Karakontie in the Lockinge a fortnight after the Guineas. This race has had a huge cash boost this season so I'm pretty confident it's the target the horse and simply put Corals going 6/1 is too big to resist. He had four races last season, won both times he ran over a mile and is a high class horse. Night of Thunder looks the pick of the opposition and heads the market but I'm not sure about Hannon's horses first time out at present and have it in my mind that his main target could be the Queen Anne. He was also beaten first time out last season (admittedly by Kingman.)

2000 Guineas:
Estidhkaar £25w @ 12/1

1000 Guineas:
High Celebrity NR £15

Lockinge Stakes:
Karakontie £25w @ 6/1

                                                                        Krefeld Racecourse