Gosden Raids the North with Three Runners at Redcar
John Gosden is not a trainer your regularly see on the card at Redcar, but on Monday he sends three runners up to the northern track. At the start of the season we often see limited opportunities for trainers, and if they have a large number of horses who need a run early, then that forces them to travel further than they normally would in order to get those runs. This is certainly a case of that, with such a large string Gosden will have numerous horses who need to run, and right now we are not fully up and running with the turf season so opportunities are limited more than they would be in a few weeks, when he won’t need to make this kind of trip.
The three runners that Gosden sends up to Redcar all look to have good chances, but two in particular are standing out as having even better prospects. The main hope of the day looks to be Private Secretary, who runs in the 1m2f novice race at 2:30pm and he is slight odds on to win that race. This is his first run of the season after two runs at the end of last season, where he finished second on both occasions. Those runs were very good, and on top of that he looks the type to go on and improve further as a three year old. A repeat of either run gives him the best form in the race and assuming he is fit enough for this, he looks like picking up his first win here.
The second runner on the card for the Newmarket handler is Forest Of Dean, who is looking to double up following a win on the all-weather at the end of February. He won at Newcastle by four lengths that day, coming away nicely and he looks as though there is even more to come. This is his first handicap and a mark of 83 looks to be one he can go close off. It would be no surprise to see this horse contesting far better handicaps after this one, I can see him winning here and then moving up in class as the season really kicks in, he is a very likeable prospect.
The final Gosden runner on the card goes in the 4:00, a horse named White Coat. This is the one that looks to have the least chance of winning, and so far during his career he has been expensive to follow. He has placed in all five of his runs recently on the all-weather, losing at odds-on twice. He now goes handicapping, but he does have plenty to prove based on what we have seen from him so far.
The presence of John Gosden on the Redcar card certainly makes the meeting a little more interesting, and he looks to have a good chance of heading back down to Newmarket with at least one winner on the board.
