HARRY WHITTINGTON BLOG: Harry Whittington, Grade One-winning trainer and ambassador for market-leading betting exchange BETDAQ, looks back on a good week for the yard with a couple of winners, as well as reviewing Saint Calvados’ performance in the Tingle Creek at Sandown.

Saint Calvados

I was very happy with Saint Calvados’ run in the Tingle Creek at Sandown on Saturday. He ran with plenty of credit considering he’s still only a five-year-old and he was beaten by two seasoned two milers with 16 Grade Ones between them.

It was the first time he had gone right-handed and he did jump out to the left which you’re never going to get away with against the calibre of horse he was up against. However, what was so encouraging was the way he stayed on up the straight on such testing ground. He beat Sceau Royal, a Grade One winner by five lengths, and was gaining ground on the front two at the finish.

We are learning all the time about the horse, so we are very much taking the positives out of it and I still believe he has the world at his feet if he continues to improve.

You wouldn’t have thought he’d wanted further in his previous races, but the run at Sandown hinted that might be the case and I don’t see any reason why he won’t stay. The next logical step is to run him over further which, if things go to plan, gives us a whole host of options going forward. We can always go back down to two miles, but it’s such a strong division and we have to try further based on the way he finished the race on Saturday.

The race we have in mind for him is the Listed two and a half mile chase on Lanzarote Hurdle Day at Kempton in early January. It looks a nice option and I’m confident the extended trip should help iron out the mistakes he made at Sandown.

Great week with two winners

While I was watching Saint Calvados at Sandown, Young Bull was winning over at Chepstow and it was fantastic to see him get the job done in the fashion he did.

He’s got a massive engine and he’s learning with every run which bodes very well for the future. He’s such a good stayer and proved that on Saturday. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s got all the tools to be a very exciting staying chaser and that’s where we’ll really see the best of him.

It was another fantastic week for the yard as Court Liability completed a four-timer at Musselburgh on Monday.

I couldn’t have been much happier with the run to be honest. He’d been off the track for over a year, so to come back and put in a performance like that was incredibly pleasing.

What really pleased me was how professionally he did it. There’s bundles more to come from him which is so exciting and I think he could be the sort of horse well-suited to the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival.

Looking ahead to this week

I’m looking forward to running Khage at either Southwell on Sunday or Ludlow next Wednesday. He’s a very nice horse, who I think a fair amount of.

He’s had a wind operation since his fall at Bangor and fingers crossed that will do the trick because we think he could be pretty smart. We’ve schooled him plenty and we’re confident of a bold showing in whichever race he runs in.

Stick With Bill will make his debut for the yard in a bumper at Ffos Las on Monday. He’s very genuine and he’s ready to go having had a racecourse gallop recently.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see him run a big race.

HARRY