Timeform Notebook: Girls on top over the weekend

Our Notebook horses this week (three fillies and a colt) come in no particular order, but the unstated intention is to pick up on horses that others might have overlooked, and that philosophy is no better demonstrated than with Valiant Girl, third in a messy handicap towards the close of Newbury's card on Saturday. At the time, most would have been more concerned with the troubled passage that favourite Commend was forced to take, that ultimately costing him the race as he went down by a head to Rose Season, but there's every reason to say those that backed Valiant Girl can feel more aggrieved.

Initially held right up by Tom Queally, Valiant Girl proved difficult to settle in the early stages and, once things started to take shape in the straight, she was repeatedly held up in her run, getting in the clear only well inside the final furlong. Once out she fairly powered home, ultimately just a nose behind Commend who, it's only a small exaggeration to say, enjoyed a dream run by comparison. Valiant Girl is certainly bred to take the step up to a useful standard, being a sister to Bronze Cannon, and she's surely going to remain well enough handicapped next time to win most races of that type so long as she gets a clearer run.

We're going back to Friday for our other three Notebook horses this week, starting with Nottingham and Princess Caetani, who looks primed to score again under the right conditions for all she's got no closer than fourth on her last two starts. Her sole win to date came on soft ground over ten furlongs at Salisbury, and neither run since has allowed her innate stamina (she's a half-sister to Septimus) to come into play, unsurprisingly undone by a steadily-run nine furlongs at Glorious Goodwood before Nottingham.

On Friday, a less-than-strong gallop rather caught Princess Caetani on the hop, coming off the bridle half a mile out before she picked up strongly approaching the last, ultimately never nearer than at the finish. Crucially, she's yet to tackle further than ten furlongs, and all indications are that longer trips will be the making of this Dylan Thomas filly.

We move onto Friday evening now, and the somewhat rare sight of a Sir Trevor Hemmings-owned runner over seven furlongs at Catterick. If it was unusual to us, the whole carry-on seemed a bit alien to Thats Molly, too, her greenness shining through on what was just her fourth start and her first in a handicap. Slowly away and first off the bridle, it looked soon after halfway as though anything other than last would be an achievement, but Thats Molly plugged on in the final couple of furlongs to finish sixth, despite coming in for just a couple of reminders from Jimmy Quinn. It's perhaps difficult to ascertain what will prove her ideal trip in the short term, not least because her pedigree is something of a mixed bag, but there's no question that we're yet to see the best of Thats Molly.

Finally, we'll touch upon Semeen, a winner at Newmarket on Friday night. As a Luca Cumani-trained three-year-old that's just won on his handicap debut, we normally wouldn't have to single out Semeen, but the fact that he starts from such a low platform (he came into last week's race BHA rated 65) and won with so much ease despite residual inexperience means we feel the need to drive the point home. Throw in the fact he's as well bred as you'd expect one from his yard to be and we're confident of more than just one further win from Semeen in the near future.

Runners Debrief
It was a momentous day last Wednesday, as the Notebook had its first-ever runner. Oojooba's entry at Salisbury was met with groans rather than murmurs of anticipation, though, as this progressive handicapper found herself in a listed race. To make matters worse, she improved every bit as much as anticipated (11 lb on the Timeform scale) to finish second the Opera Gal. We can only hope some of our readers got on each-way, as the cat is well and truly out of the bag now with her BHA mark due for a whopping rise.

It just goes to show: no matter how good our Notebook suggestions may (or may not) prove to be, we can't help connections entering their horses in races they have very little chance of winning!