The Notebook

Edward Bethell is enjoying a fruitful spell at the moment, operating at a healthy 26%, and he unleashed an exciting two-year-old in Intrusively this week at Nottingham. He just got beat by a useful Godolphin horse who actually looked quite smart, in Aomori City, but it was a performance full of promise, highlighting the potential of an exciting horse. This pair were miles clear of the rest of the field. Intrusively is declared to run at Haydock on Saturday evening in a maiden stakes, and having a quick look at the declarations, it is not the deepest race in the world. He is likely to be close to favouritism and should be in the frame if he heads there. Failing that, he holds an entry in a valuable race at Doncaster in September, indicating connections know the talent this horse holds.

I am tentatively going to throw Dukes of Haather into this column, after his third-place finish at Chester on Friday. Shaping with potential in the Brocklebsy on his debut, things have not worked out of this colt, who is yet to get his head in front on four starts. On this latest occasion, there was optimism that the step up to seven furlongs would see enough improvement for him to win this selling stakes. However, it was more hard luck for this horse as just as he was making his challenge, he got hampered and lost ground, losing all chance of winning before plugging on for third. There is definitely a race for this horse, but patience is wearing thin.

Hard as Nails has been a fantastic horse for connections in his short career, but it felt like one got away after his second at Newton Abbot on Friday. He was carrying a penalty after his facile success at Southwell and with a stronger emphasis on stamina he may have been able to carry it to victory. The winner, Dame Sarra, got a good ride from James Davies so take nothing away from him. Fergal O’Brien has done a fantastic job finding races for this horse, highlighting the skill it takes to find races for all abilities of horses.

Finally, Manuelito was comfortably beaten at Carlisle this week, but I still believe he is ahead of his mark for David Pipe. This dual-purpose horse has had fun over hurdles in recent weeks, winning twice from three starts. He has a flat mark of 63, which he can certainly win races off, he just appeared to bump into one this occasion. I would not be surprised to see his next outing back over hurdles where he will aim to complete a hat-trick over this discipline.

Performance of the week:

I think we have seen a potential superstar in Babouche at Cork last week, who destroyed her rivals in easy fashion. Daughter of Kodiac, she is superbly bred, and could not have been any more impressive if she tried. She holds two group entries, both at the Curragh and I cannot wait to see this potential superstar re-appear.