George Boughey: guide to my Saturday runners and best chances

The programme has kind of written itself for her in handicap company, she’ll likely run here and then again at Goodwood, probably stepping back up to the mile. She’s in such good form at home that we felt she deserved another go. She got very overheated down at the start at Ascot, so hopefully in a slightly less pressure-cooker atmosphere at Newmarket, she might allow herself to run a bit better. I was delighted with how she finished last time as she picked up well late on. It’s a valuable race and she’s in good shape.

This is a hot race and she’s up against some seasoned campaigners at this level, but I was delighted with how she ran up at Ayr. She’s relaxing better now and is starting to come into her own. She’ll continue to ply her trade in stakes company, and I think there’s more to come. She’s got a couple of nice entries going forward. There isn’t a huge gap between being competitive in this kind of Listed sprint and pushing on to a higher level. The faster they go, the better she’ll be. I think she’ll be seen in a better light when she gets to six furlongs, but she’ll be ridden here to try and pick up some black type.

She appreciated the step up in trip at Newmarket, and this stiff mile should suit her well. Jack Callan rides, who’s riding plenty of winners at the moment, and is great value for his seven-pound claim. I don’t necessarily think she needs a claim taken off, but it’s a busy day and Jack’s a big part of our team now. She’s a filly who I think can keep progressing. She might get 10 furlongs in time. In my view she hadn’t quite done enough, on paper, to go straight into the fillies’ handicap at Goodwood, so the plan might possibly be to run here and then go to Glorious Goodwood afterwards.

The programme fits itself for a horse like him. He’s rated 90, and we’d like to try and turn him into a stakes horse. He could have gone to the nursery at Goodwood, but his work has been very solid. He’s a horse who wants seven furlongs and he’s just ready to run again. I thought waiting three weeks for Goodwood was probably too long, so I’m looking forward to seeing him step up in grade here.

Race: 4.35pm Newmarket

She’s in great shape. We half knew what was coming at Ascot, she was drawn out on the wing and we forced the issue a bit. We had to change something because she was drawn in stall one over five furlongs, so if we’d dropped her in she would never have got there. We rode her differently that day and I thought she ran really well under the circumstances.

She’s drawn in 11 this time and there looks to be a bit of pace around her, which should help. We won’t be rushing her and that sort of ride should suit her in a race where they could go a fast pace. She ran well at the track as a two-year-old and I don’t think we’ve seen her back there since, but she worked there last week under Ryan Moore and he was happy with her. So now it’s over to Billy [Loughnane].

I’m delighted he’s riding her. Billy is a huge part of our team – he rides the majority of our horses when he’s available. He’s ridden her before at Goodwood and Longchamp and knows her really well. He certainly warrants the ride and I’m very grateful to the team at Coolmore for allowing him to take it. It’s all very relaxed, he knows her inside out and I’m excited to see them go again.

McMurray probably wants seven furlongs and maybe even a mile already. He got caught a bit flat-footed and was still pretty raw on debut. I think he’ll keep improving with racing and hopefully we see him in a better light this time.

Shahik is going nicely at home. He’s already gelded and has done plenty of work. I think he can run well on debut, but realistically I’d expect him to be winning a novice second time out.

She’s been a touch disappointing this year, but we’ve changed a few things and freshened her up. I was hoping for a slightly bigger field here. She looks like she wants fast ground, and as long as they go a decent gallop and she relaxes, I think she’ll be doing her best work late.

Other than Believing, I’d probably say Orange Sky and Classic Encounter are the two that go into the weekend with plenty of potential. They’re both horses I think can keep improving and go there with decent chances.