PETER THOMAS

Weblog:  Wandering the world wide web

Horse that's better than a Girls Aloud calendar

ONE of the treats of visiting Michael Bell's Fitzroy House yard, apart from the quails' eggs and the chocolate biscuits that you get with your cup of tea (that's what a good public school upbringing will do for a chap), is the inevitable presence of the girlie calendar. Nothing too raunchy, you understand: the first time I went there it was the Spice Girls, this time Girls Aloud.

Michael Leopold Wentworth (another thing a good public school upbringing will do for a chap) told me that Cheryl Cole had a share of a horse with him recently, but it turned out to be pretty poor and ended up sold, much to his chagrin. Now, however, Cheryl has been replaced. The trainer has another beauty around the place and she's even more of a beauty. In fact, she's more than just a beauty, he says: she's a beauty and a beast.

She is Sariska, just about the best-looking horse he's ever had. She's gorgeous, dark and athletic, by all accounts - an equine Denise Lewis, he says. And when she walks into the paddock at Newbury for the Fred Darling, she'll put the other fillies into the shade, quite literally. She's that much of a beast.

I told him I'd already backed her for the 1,000 Guineas, and while he didn't exactly tell me off, he suggested that I would have done better to wait until after her trial, because she could go down any one of a number of routes. I remain optimistic about my bet but less so than I was. I want rain and I want her to look very fast at Newbury.

For the first day of the Craven meeting, the ever-helpful Bell came clean. He's not sure about Art Connoisseur in the Free Handicap. He was thinking about the Greenham because of the likelihood of better ground, but he's leaning towards the HQ race because the going looks as though it'll be okay, even though he hates the idea of giving away weight to the field. And if the Coventry winner doesn't stay, he can always go back to sprinting. It's not the basis for a strong bet, by the sound of it.

Moneycantbuymelove and Dove Mews, likewise, don't get a ringing punting endorsement, but both should be there or thereabouts. If that helps at all. And the rest of the information will appear in a full-blown Stable Tour in Thursday's Post.

I'm planning to watch with interest, assimilate all information and utilise it at some future juncture. Unless I havea couple of pints and punt like crazy, which isn't beyond the realms. Then I shall sup vigorously in Bury St Edmunds and come back refreshed on Thursday for what looks like a proper betting day.