Highgrove Thoroughbred's head trainer, Leo Turner, laughed at us when we asked for the scoop on their curently sizzing and currently fizzling horses, implying that anybody fizzling would be unlikely to stay down for long. We started by bringing up Material Girl; a Juvenile Grey Filly, and easily one of the best bred of her crop - by the hot sire, Foolish Lad and out of a multi-HoTY Winning Merry Bay King Mare, Lawliet's Girl. Nobody can deny that the breeding is there, and when looking at the horse even those with little experience would know she was a balanced and strong looking youngster. She gives off the impression of an early achiever, with her confidence and level headed demeanor. However, the filly has run second to last in both of her starts. Turner says: "Look, Material Girl is adaptable; she's got the blood, the mentality and the huge range to play with. We aren't worried yet, she's one where we won't know what she likes until we try it. So we will be throwing her at every distance until we find where she works best. She's resilient and smart, she's just finding her feet and has plenty of room to improve as we work with her." The Trainer says she's pulled up well after her first two starts, and it seems she's not in need of down-time just yet. We can expect to see her out and about in the coming months, hopefully with some improvement.


Hemingway, Pursuit of War and Gala Royale are three of the stables other Juveniles, who all wow-ed with strong HOTY Wins on their debut's - which has to say something for the up and coming young trainer, Mr Turner. However, taking a more modest turn than he did with the Foolish Lad filly, Leo seems less inclined to defend the talent of these three - or does he just like to keep us wondering? "They're all horses we knew would be strong. Pursuit of War is a blue-blooded filly with the temperament to do serious damage as a juvenile; she's cool, collected and pleasantly trainable. We sort of expected early success from her. The two boys on the other hand somewhat surprised me. They're both very immature mentally, but they are also both big horses with a lot of raw talent. I didn't expect to see it so early but it was certainly a sweet moment when they both won their debut's. I hope it only goes to show how much more they have to offer, if they're already winning when there's still so much to work on with them."

It was also an exciting day for the staff, who all lined up to cheer on their first real Turf Triple Tiara contender - Bohemian Rhapsody, a Jazzaway filly who's only recently been showing she was capable of winning at high level HOTY. Unfortunately the flashy black youngster finnished in 4th, but stable owner, Connie Fae, is remaining hopeful. "Mia is a tough horse. She's an absolute pain to work with sometimes as she always thinks she knows best, I think that was blatantly obvious in her form today. She just got too eager too soon. I was watching her jockey struggle to contain her even after the finish line, she was after the winner with a vengeance," Apparently volatile behaviour is the norm for the striking 3yo, "Experience is only doing her good, she'll be ready next time out."

It also seemed the amazing winning streak of G3 Mare, Persian Virtue has well and truly ceased - the mare ran 2nd in her first start for the year, however returned to her winning form next time out. Leo Turner says: "We are in no rush with Perry. She's a beautiful, honest mare who tries her heart out every start. We are looking after her, keeping her in good shape and taking it easy. We purchased her with the intent to run her for a season and retire her to brood, so given our intentions she's already done more than enough to make us proud. I think she has an exciting future ahead of her, even if she didn't maintain her streak."