My Ambition and Golden Phase out of the places at Bath
At a chilly and breezy Bath yesterday evening the two runners coped rather differently with the ground, softened by earlier rain following a cool week, and Golden Phase handled conditions much better in her mile race. A slight bump and stumble left her a little detached from the field in the early stages, but jockey George Rooke closed steadily to join and was well placed to make up ground in the straight so that the Gustav Klimt filly finished her race well to be fifth home beaten just over seven lengths. My Ambition looked very well indeed in the parade ring, and was showing signs of freshness for Hollie Doyle leaving the paddock and on the way down to the mile start. He took and very strong hold in the early stages and raced prominently, only to get quite tired on the softest ground around a quarter of a mile out. By the post he had lost about a dozen lengths in ground he has never acted on, and he will certainly fare much better next time if quicker, and ideally fast ground is found for him. Earlier in the week Oisin Murphy regretted not finding early cover for Hoornblower. who did too much early on and paid for it in the latter part of his race, and Gentle Whinny travelled well and went very fast at the head of a field into a very stiff Newmarket headwind, so that she got outpaced into the dip and she will look to step up to a mile and quarter next time. Previously Party Island encountered very difficult conditions at Leicester, and he finished a long way back after a drenching afternoon on already heavy ground. Fingers are crossed that some good spring weather will bring better racing ground very soon.