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Sunday 26th July

What a performance from Enable in the King George! She just oozes class and loved the strong pace set by Sovereign. The time was really good too and there is nothing to suggest she is not as good as ever this season, even at the ripe old age of 6. Japan, on the other hand, has now become an extremely disappointing horse and appears to have regressed this season. I can't wait to see Enable take on Love, amongst others, in the Arc and hopefully they will all make it. 

After taking a short break from racing over the past week or so, I was going to wait until Goodwood and Galway to get involved again but I can't resist a couple of horses today. Firstly, there is an obvious case for a small interest in Firmament at York in the 7f handicap at 2.10. As an eight year old, it would be hard to say he is progressive but that doesn't mean he isn't well handicapped off a mark of 93 at a course he simply loves (only out of the first 4 once). He was extremely unlucky last time here when getting no run in the final two furlongs having travelled very well into the race and he was dropped 2lb for that run. He may not have won but he surely would have gone very close on that occasion and this race looks less competitive. He is now down to his last winning mark from June last year, when we won impressively over course and distance and everything looks in place for a big run.

At Ascot, Sam Cooke looks like a horse that will surely be better than his current mark of 92. He is very lightly raced for a four year old but I thought his reappearance was highly promising. He came with a good run but didn't quite get home and the drop in trip looks ideal. In his only previous try at this trip, he was very impressive at Chester in a race that worked out well. On that occasion, he looked like he could be a 100+ rated horse in time and I hope that is still the case.

1pt win Firmament (7/2 Bet 365, William Hill, 10/3 General) York 2.10 *use BOG firms

1pt win Sam Cooke (7/2 Bet 365, William Hill, 9/4 General) Newmarket 3.35 *use BOG firms

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