COLD MISERABLE AND MORE SNOW ON THE WAY.....BUT I DID SEE SOME VERY NICE YOUNG HORSES IN IRELAND

The Baltic conditions remain and racing has been wiped out all week. We have not had a gallop to use as it is still covered in snow and frozen. As a result we have been boxing up the horses and be cantering at Fred Hutsby's and Richard Phillips - a huge thanks to them for helping us keep the show on the road.... Full credit also to the BHA for putting on a Bumper card at Kempton and a replacement card at Musselburgh.

 

We have decided to take advantage of both of these and will have runners accordingly. We will send 3 to Kempton tomorrow. Spirit of Shankly runs in the first and will get over 1st7lbs off the 3 winners in the race. That seems a huge amount of weight to give away and I really hope he will run a good race. Later on the card Secret Tune and Tatispout run. Both are better ground horses, and with all the work they have missed in the last 10 days, this will come as an important work out in order to get them ready to run by the end of the month. The big problem may be trying to get them to Kempton. We are forecast snow tonight, though I am not sure which forecast to believe - they are so wildly different. Fingers crossed that it does not snow too much.

 

It could be a similar problem getting up to Musselburgh tomorrow. Paddy is aiming to leave first thing in the morning and we will have to check all the travel news before he leaves. If he does get there, we will run Cross of Honour, West Brit and Ostland. All three are on great form. COH is weighted to be good enough to win his Novice Hurdle, and then WB is in a competitve Juvenile. I hope the small wind operation he had after his last run has done the trick and then on the slightly better ground, you should not see him stop so quickly like he did at Plumpton. The final runner is Ostland. I did not think he would be ready to run so quickly, however after a sparkling bit of work on Wednesday in Lambourn, we have decided to take a chance. This run will put him spot on for a busy Spring Campaign.

 

We could also run a couple at Exeter on Sunday. Loose Chips could go for the EBF qualifier and Little Chip (no relation) for the bumper.....busy weekend in store for us.

 

I missed the cold weather of the last 2 days as I have been in Ireland looking at horses - the weather over there is almost Sping like in comparison. I was lucky enough to see a few very nice horses in the Tipperary area. Please give me a call if you want any more details.