Seagulls Eleven

Classic trials may be about as fashionable as corduroy these days but I still love both, so it has been a riveting few weeks considering which of the three-year-olds may be about to take a big step forwards or may already have shown their best. People love racing for different reasons but attempting to know the unknowable is a major draw, and those puzzles are there for all involved in different facets of the game, from breeders to owners, trainers or punters. Whether through formal trials, racecourse gallops, or stable...

Hugo Palmer did not disguise his pleasure following a Rowley Mile racecourse gallop for his 2,000 Guineas contender Seagulls Eleven (Ire), whose sire Galileo Gold (GB) was the trainer's first Classic winner in the same race nine years ago.  Declaring himself "thrilled" after a debrief with Seagulls Eleven's rider Oisin Murphy, Palmer said, "One of the things that's new in my life, having moved [from Newmarket], is that I've had to get used to the fact that we've only got one gallop. Young horses, when you start working them, will...