Manager’s Thoughts – Big Day for the Battenberg Silks!
📅 June 29th | Cartmel & Uttoxeter
It’s an exciting day ahead with three runners flying the Battenberg silks across two meetings—Cartmel and Uttoxeter. We’re hoping for a safe day’s racing, some solid performances, and maybe even a little bit of sticky toffee pudding to celebrate. Here’s the team news and our thoughts going into today.
Glory And Honour
3:50 Cartmel (Feature Race)
Trainer: Sam England
Jockey: Jonny England
Glory And Honour lines up in the feature race at Cartmel and faces a strong field of Irish raiders—including last year’s winner, who’s been heavily backed despite limited recent form. That kind of market move has to be respected.
We come here just nine days after his game win at Hexham. He’s back out quickly, but if the headgear works its magic again, we’re hopeful he has a big run in him. He’s possibly the leading British hope in a deep race, and we’d be delighted with a top 3 finish—though fingers crossed he’s still battling at the business end.
Defence Witness (pictured below)
5:05 Cartmel
Trainer: Sam England
Jockey: Jonny England
Defence Witness goes in the staying handicap over 3m1f, and while ground conditions will be important, he should stay the trip well. He’s been in great form and deserves to be towards the head of the market.
Cartmel specialist James Moffatt fields a strong contender and could be our main threat. There’s a possibility of a few more non-runners, but Defence Witness arrives with a favourite’s chance, and if he runs to his last effort, he should be right in the mix.
Ashington
4:57 Uttoxeter
Trainer: Mark Walford
Jockey: Jamie Hamilton
Old boy Ashington is back in action and remains a club legend, just like Glory And Honour. We’ve started to see signs of his form returning in recent runs, though he’s still building back to his best.
This looks a competitive contest for the grade, but if things go his way, we’d love to see him hitting the frame. Today should set him up nicely for his target next month at Cartmel, a track he knows and loves.
Most importantly, we want all three horses home safe.
We’re lucky to be racing on a sunny day, and Cartmel is looking spectacular as always. Good luck to all connections involved—let’s hope we’re celebrating with a slice of Cartmel’s finest sticky toffee pudding before the day is out!
#road to 100 🩷💛