Mickdaam, with Mick de Kock in Dubai and currently in the hands of Richard Fahey, as continued his good form despite the heavy track at Chester.
Mickdaam had run well on his UK debut for the season and despite nearly coming down at the start and then having to travel wide through most of the race, he was strong enough to out-stay most of the field with the fast-finishing Model Pupil just failing to get up on the line. Call to Battle was 2 lengths back in third and David Livingstone, who had led for much of the race, ran out of gas ad finished 4th.
The Huxley saw Marcret, a prolific winner in Italy, add this race to his CV and Myplacelater, who is also owned by Dr Marwan Koukash, was second. Wigmore Hall was third on ground that was not really to his liking, just getting a nostril in ahead of Questioning who also wasn't crazy about the going.
Friday it's the Ormonde Stakes G3 over 2800m with probably only 4 runners on ground that is soft to heavy. Brown Panther, owned by English football star Michael Owen, returns and is on 10/11. Sea Moon is unlikely to run, and Memphis Tennessee is on 11/10.
Saturday at Lingfield the Oaks and Derby trials will be on the AWT since Sandown is waterlogged. The Oaks trial is only a "listed" race whereas the Derby trial is a G3, which does not really seem right these days where the fillies are often either on a par with or better than the colts. The Oaks trial has 9 starters and the two most likely are Vow, who won on debut at Newbury but this is up in distance and grade, and Apothacary who has had two outings this season and could be value on 8/1.
The colts are 8, with the Montjeu son Rougemont on top at 7/2. Goldoni is on 4/1 following a good win at Epsom and the unbeaten Main Sequence is on the same mark,
