Manager’s Thoughts – Friday 6th June

We’ve got two runners out today and we’re hopeful of some encouraging performances from both.

Restandbethankful lines up in the 2.50 at Bangor-on-Dee, with Lizzie sending him out and Sean Quinlan taking the ride. Lizzie feels like Rocky is finally turning a corner and coming back to form, which is great to see. His main target remains Cartmel at the end of the month, but today gives us a good opportunity to take a step forward. It’s a small field, so we’d be pleased to see him finish in the first three.

Later this afternoon, Commander Atkinson makes his stable debut in the 4.55 at Thirsk, now under the care of Brian Ellison with Ben Robinson on board. We claimed him for £6,000, and we think he’s got plenty of potential – especially in today’s market where that kind of value is hard to find. He’ll appreciate a bit of cut in the ground, so we’re hoping the rain arrives. It’s a very competitive race to kick things off, but we’re optimistic. A top-three finish wouldn’t be impossible, but realistically we’d be happy to see him finish off his race strongly and land in the top half of the field. A solid first outing for the team would be a great platform to build on.