Nad Al Sheba 5/3/09

[fintron]

4.45 Nas Redding Colliery, a 310,000 guineas purchase for Jane Chapple-Hyam back in April, has come a long way since hacking up in a £3k Kempton maiden in October and is improving at the rate of knots. As a son of Mineshaft (quadruple Grade 1 winner on dirt) out of a Zilzal mare (stallion a dual Group 1 winner - including QEII stakes) he is beautifully bred and has taken to dirt well on his two starts in the UAE. He contested a dirt race over seven furlongs here on 22nd January and ran a solid race, stretching them out before the Godolphin pair Desert Party and Regal Ransom picked him up late on. It was a credible performance considering he was running off level weights against animals rated 23 and 10 lbs his superior on official figures. Trainer Herman Brown then stepped him up in trip for the UAE 2000 Guineas for his following race and he put in what was, quite possibly, a career best in that Grade 3 event which was worth £104k to the winner - considerably more that the Kempton pot he picked up four months earlier! Frankie had his pick of the three Godolphin runners and his mount, 6/5 fav Desert Party, got the job done in the end but Redding Colliery, starting at 16/1 for the second race running, made a real fight of it and closed the gap on Regal Ransom (second) by two and a quarter lengths to suggest he is improving. He also had Vineyard Haven (9/4 2nd fav and a dual Group 1 winner on dirt) five and three quarter lengths back in fourth. Redding Colliery runs in another Group 3 race here and although he is up against a couple of proven Group winners in Diabolical and the unbeaten Big City Man, a handy weight for age allowance means he runs off a feather weight and could have a chance of making the frame once more. He steps down to 6f and although he is bred to appreciate further, from what I have seen of him I think he has the pace to make a good go of it here and have taken 4.9 for the place with the intention of trading out in running if he runs his usual front-running race.

[AndyAllweather]

Re: Nad Al Sheba 5/3/09 Hes non-runner m8!