Admiralty runs at Southwell and news on Educate's preparation for Lincoln

Admiralty steps into the unknown at Southwell in terms of class and trip. He has always struck me as  a horse that would be suited by a drop to 6f. He has a high cruising speed and readily dismissed Fortrose Academy when he won on his last start at Wolverhampton in October.

The Andrew Balding horse then won on the bridle over 6f at Kempton. Don’t think the 5lbs rise is a problem as he is big horse with more improvement. Tactics will be changed, though, as we won’t be able to make the running.

There was no reason for his absence other than he needed a rest. He has been ready to run for a while but a pricked foot meant he had to miss a race at Wolves while Kempton was then cancelled because of the snow.

I must admit I’m surprised Hab Reeh is favourite. The horse has been winning in 0-55’s, is up another 6lbs, hasn’t looked entirely at home on Fibresand and will get taken on for the lead.

With Southwell being a specialist track I would be more afraid of Caldercruix and Masai Moon. Both horses travel much better on the Fibresand and, while Masai Moon has been in better form on the Polytrack, both horses will step up on this surface.

It’s a tough race but Admiralty is improving, has an excellent young jockey in Tom Brown, and will go on the surface. The only query is whether he will be as good, or even better, over this shorter trip. Hopefully, the answer will be yes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Educate has been back in full training for a while now and will have a racecourse gallop in early March in preparation for his bid at the William Hill Lincoln on March 23. He will definitely run at Doncaster.

If he fails to get into the big race he will take in the consolation event. The weights are published on February 14 and, after the first elimination stage on March 2, we will have a fair idea of whether he will get a slot in the race.

Educate has grown since his win at York in October and, even though is he is now a four-year-old, he has had just seven starts. He was impressive on heavy ground over 10f at York but will be more effective over a strongly run 1m on decent ground.

We have an ambitious plan for him, culminating mid-season in hopefully a crack at the Royal Hunt Cup. He has to improve another 10lbs to be competitive but he made rapid improvement on his last two starts and both Liam Jones and Jamie Spencer liked him a lot