| Stable News | |
| Thursday 20th November 2008 A disappointing 2 days - We went to Fakenham on Tuesday hoping that we would find some better ground, however it was as 'tacky' as I have ever seen it there. None of the three liked the ground, but all have come back safe and sound and will live to fight another day. Yesterday we ran Songe, who seemed to have a total confidence crisis, and AP had to pull him up after only a mile. It was too bad to be true and as the Racing Post said you should really not read into it too much. Today we are travelling all over the country. We have one runner at Hereford and Wincanton and 2 at Market Rasen. With any luck we will have a change in our fortunes. Wriggle and her puppies seem to be thriving and are growing by the minute. When I learn how to, I will take a photo of the and publish it on the 'blog'. She has 5 bitches and 2 dogs so please spread the word!! |
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| Monday 17th November 2008 The crossbar has continued to be hit over the last few days! Tara Taylor ran a blinder on Thursday to be beaten only a couple of lengths in the bumper at Taunton. As I said, in my last blog she would come on a huge amount for the race. It helped that they only crawled for the first mile, but this run should stand her in very good stead for her next race, which could be as early as next week. Then on Saturday we took Sir Ian to Uttoxeter. Again, he was in desperate need to run. He has been in the yard almost 2 years and his owners, the Stevenson's, have been extremely patient, so it has been a long hard struggle to get him there, but we did it and we were all delighted. He will improve greatly for the run, and will now go straight hurdling in a couple of weeks. I was very disappointed with our runners yesterday at Fontwell. Otage de Brion never seemed to travel in his race. Maybe I should have encouraged Tom more to ‘drive’ him up into the race and see if he would have gone better. He did not ‘blow’ at all after the race and I have consequently entered him in a handicap hurdle next weekend at Aintree – going back over hurdles may boost his confidence. I was also disappointed with Borisova. He struggled with his jumping and with the bends and I am slightly worried that something may be amiss with him. Mr Atkinson has asked me to get Buffy Shirley –Beavan to have a look and see if there is anything that she can do to help. It has been a very busy weekend with some fantastic racing at Cheltenham – I just hope that next year we have horses good enough to go. Yesterday I thought that Tatanen was extremely impressive. He is a horse that beat Songe a couple of times in France, so hopefully he can run up to his full potential on Wednesday. Also on the Friday of Cheltenham there was a select sale of ‘form’ horses. 24 lots were sold after racing, with the most expensive being bought by Howard Johnson for £200,000. I thought that he was a very smart looking horse, but £200,000 for a horse in this current economic climate was unbelievable. Tomorrow we run three at Fakenham. No Greater Love runs in a Handicap Chase, and must have a solid chance if carrying on where he left off at Stratford. Orphelin Collonges runs in a competitive Novice Chase, but as long he does not play up like last time in the paddock, he should run well. Finally we run Crystal Prince in the Handicap Hurdle. He has been given a fairly high mark for his 2 completed runs (105), and may be slightly exposed, but I would like to think he will still run OK. The most important news of the day is that my dog, Wriggle has had 7 healthy puppies. She made us endure a very long night last night, and then had them this morning. She is a complete natural with them, and they seem to be suckling nicely. BUT I am a complete novice when it comes to puppies and any tips would be most welcome??!!?? |
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| Thursday 13th November 2008 - HITTING THE CROSSBAR!! As someone said to me yesterday: “you keep hitting the post” with your runners, so I had to reply: “and also the crossbar!” It is getting a little frustrating, but at least the horses are not getting pulled up and falling. So we went to Bangor yesterday with Great Tsar to run in the Novice Handicap Chase. Tom David rode and gave him a lovely ride, but again we could only come second. We were beaten a length by a nice horse of Colin Tizzard’s who they had heavily backed and is obviously well handicapped. As I said, it is a little frustrating, but we will turn the corner soon and Tsar has run a very good race. Today Tara Taylor goes to Taunton for the Bumper. She is only small but she goes very well up the gallop. I would not expect her to win today, as it will be a huge learning curve, but with this experience, I would expect to run go very close on her next outing. After today we will wait and see what the weather does for this weekend. We have a lot of entries for Stratford on Sunday, so we will see if they can race. At present the banks of the River Avon have broken, so there must be some serious doubts. Unfortunately though we will not have anything to go to Cheltenhan – but it will be a very exciting weekend of racing. It will be interesting to see if Paul Nicholls can ‘clear up’ as he has so far with everything this season. |
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| Tuesday 11th November 2008 Well it has been four days since I last wrote my blog – I am very sorry, but I seem to have been racing all over the country! Rather too many placed horses and no winners. I was very happy with Songe at Sandown and turning into the home straight I thought he might have a chance of beating the hot favourite. Free World is now a 14-1 chance fore the Arkle next March and I think we could finish very close to him if we iron out a few little problems. The first, being to stop him being so keen in the first half of the race. As he is so keen for the first mile, it means there is slightly less ‘gas’ left in the tank for the last two fences (where he made two big mistakes) the finish. This week we are going to try out a few different bits and see if they help – any suggestions would be most welcome. Mollys Garden was again very pleasing. It turned out to be a very competitive bumper, and as the ground became very soft, they crawled for the first half of the race before sprinting. We know Molly is not a speed horse, so was just caught for a bit of speed by the first 2 and came an honourable third. Tom was very happy and said what a lovely horse he was, but he should now go hurdling. We will get him schooled and find a race in a couple of weeks. Yesterday we made the long trip up to Carlisle with Iwillrememberyou and Mister Watzisname. We arrived just before 11am and promptly walked the course, as we heard there had been flooding in the area. The course was very, very wet, but the ground staff had done an excellent job in getting it ready to race. Carlisle is probably the stiffest course in the country and that is exactly how it rode. Mister Watzisname went off at 9-1 and jumped and travelled superbly…………until half way up the hill. Being his first run in 9 months he started to get tired between the last 2 and Tom therefore looked after him to finish a close 4th. I was delighted with his jumping and how he travelled, but annoyed with myself as he just needed the run in those conditions. I will look for a flatter track next time and keep him to 2 miles for one more run. He is a very nice looking horse and will have come on a huge amount for it.! Iwillrememberyou looked as though he definitely needed the race, but I was very pleased with his jumping. He has always been dropped out in his races as he can be very keen, but then as the season goes he settles and is easier to ride. We will try and not drop him out so far next time, but more importantly we will step him back up to 3 miles. |
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| Thursday 6th November 2008 As I said last night, we took 4 horses to my old boss Kim Bailey’s first thing this morning to school. It was very foggy, but Sean Quinlan and Tom Siddall did a great job and I will feel far more confidant when they all get to the races next week. Contrary to what I have just read on Kim’s blog, none of the 4 were Alan Halsall’s – I thought that would be a little rude!! We took Otage de Brion, Strategic Plan, Iwillrememberyou and Great Tsar as a lead, and I was delighted how they went. On the subject of Kim’s blog, it is fantastic and very entertaining – I don’t know how he has the time to download all the pictures and think of his amusing (only slightly) links to our names. It is now after 6pm and I am only now thinking of my blog. I am sure Alan will be amused to see that he was linked to the ‘Corrie Blog!’ I was linked to Prince William – very boring, but a least I am not losing all my hair! But on a more serious note it really was very kind and I cannot thank him enough for letting my horses cut up his sacred schooling turf. All the horses mentioned in the blog last night are still on course to run in the next 4-5 days – starting with Brize Norton tomorrow. However Tom Siddall has just interrupted me from this and told me that Sean had a bad fall at Towcester this afternoon. He has not broken his collar bone but done something to his AC joint (somewhere in the shoulder). It means that he probably will not be able to ride Iwillrememberyou on Monday at Carlisle. If that is the case Tom will – all it means that we will not be able to take off the 5lbs that we usually do. As I am leaving by 9am tomorrow for Fontwell and then 8am the following day for Sandown, we are going to work a few first thing in the morning. Tara Taylor and Prairie Spirit need to do a strong bit as Tara is due to run next week and Prairie in 2 weeks. Also working will be Borisova and Marwan. Boris is entered next weekend. |
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| Wednesday 5th November 2008 Today we ran Court Princess at Huntingdon. She is very ‘green’ and we needed to find out where we are with her. Tom gave her a lovely ride and introduction to hurdling. He got off her saying how she needed to step up in trip and once the ‘penny drops’ she should be able to win a couple of hurdle races. We will therefore run her again fairly soon to give her the experience. I see there could be a couple of options for her over 2m4f in 10 days at Stratford and Fontwell. Over the rest of the week we will have the odd runner. Brize Norton will run on Friday at Fontwell (as long as the going remains ‘good’). Jackie Stokes has very kindly said we can run him in the colours of the Westcote Inn Syndicate, because their horse, Towmater, is going to be out of action for the next couple of months. He must have a fairly good each way chance on his better form from Ireland. On Saturday we may well run either Songe or Mister Watzisname in the Beginners Chase at Sandown. A lot will depend on the ground. Neither will run unless there is some ‘soft’ in the going description, and then if it gets very soft we will run Watzisname. Both have been schooling well and I would expect a bold bid especially as there is likely to be only 6/7 runners in the race. On Sunday we will try and run Mollys Garden at Hereford. I was ‘gutted’ that we got balloted out last Monday from Plumpton as it would have been ideal. It should never have happened as we did not have a ballot mark, but due to a severe stable shortage two extra horses had to be taken out of each race – unfortunately this included us! We will have to make do with this weekend. It will probably be his last Bumper before going hurdling – the race looks pretty competitive at the entry stage, but most are entered everywhere and we will see what happens when the declarations are out on Friday. Finally I have made a couple of entries for Carlisle next Monday. Mister Watzisname and Iwillrememberyou need very soft going, so I have entered accordingly and they say that Carlisle is the perfect racecourse for an introduction to chasing. Tomorrow morning Kim Bailey has very kindly helped us out by letting us school 4 horses on his schooling ground. Our fences at home have been jumping terribly over the last couple of weeks and we are in the process of moving them and getting them changed. We will take Iwillrememberyou, Strategic Plan, Otage de Brion and probably one other. I know Kim has a very good schooling ground and it really is most kind – let’s hope they go and win soon!! |
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| Monday 3rd November 2008 I have not been able to go racing either of the last two days - however they still continue to run very well. Crystal Prince was our third second in our last 6 runners! Yesterday Orphelin Collonges ran extremely well at Huntingdon. He was only beaten 8 lengths by some very decent horses. There is no doubt that he will greatly improve for the run and Tom O'Brien said as much and also that he jumped brilliantly for his first effort over the fences. Today at Plumpton Tom Siddall gave Crystal Prince an inspired ride to be second. He stole 10 lengths at the start and then proceeded to jump all but one of the field in to the ground. He will have one more run to get handicapped and then should certainly go and win some handicaps. Yesterday I missed Huntingdon because I had to go to the christening of my Godaughter in St Pauls Cathedral. It really was a fantastic day and a privilege to go to St Pauls. Today I went to the press day for the opening of the season at Sandown. It was a very smart lunch in central London with a few of the top trainers attending. Again it was a privilege to go to such an important lunch with such esteemed trainers - we have got a lot to try and live up to. I was also very proud to say my 'Chase Win' statistics at Sandown are better than Alan King's. He has had only 1 winner over the chase fences with some 30ish runners. I could proudly say that we have had 3 winners from only 4 runners! The only problem is that I have got to try and keep it going! |
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| Friday 31st October 2008 As I said yesterday, we took four horses to Martin Keighley's this morning. Mister Watzisname worked with Court Princess. Watzisname will run next Thursday at Haydock depending on the ground being soft enough. Court Princess may go next Wednesday to either Huntingdon or Chepstow. She will school again tomorrow and then again on Monday. I may even leave her another week just to make sure she jumps properly. The other two to work were King de Lune and Brize Norton. Brize Norton is owned by Jackie Stokes in Ireland and may run either next weekend at Fontwell or Sandown or the following weekend at Cheltenham. He is a good ground horse so will run whenever we can find the best ground. No Greater Love has come out of his race on 'flying' form and we will just see what the handicapper puts him up. If he is very harsh we have an option next Friday - so he runs under a penalty. Our only runner over the weekend will be Orphelin Collonges at Huntingdon. He is in a very competitive Novice Chase, against Hold Em and a couple of very good other horses. |
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| Thursday 30th October 2008 - A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well it has been a very hectic few days, with runners and the sales. I am delighted with Loco Grande. He has been having a fun couple of days since he arrived, being quietly exercised, learning how to jump and being turned out in the field. He seems to love his jumping. The plan will be to go easy on him for a couple of weeks, and in that time feed him as much as possible. His only negative at present is that he looks very fit – I would like to see a little more condition on him. It is something that can be quickly rectified. I did not manage to buy anything on either Tuesday or Wednesday, though I was underbidder last night on a Linamix 3yo from France. This was forTerry Spraggott, and I hope we may be able to find a horse for him soon. We also failed in our search for Mrs Cookson. But there is plenty of time and we should not rush these things. Yesterday in between bidding on horses I managed to get to Huntingdon to watch our 2 runners. Red Acres ran very well for 2 of the 2½ miles, and then stumbled at the second last. He is OK today and has only pulled a few muscles in his back. We will give him an easy week before bringing back in a month. He did not seem to quite stay the 2½ miles so we will drop him back to just over 2 miles. I was delighted with Court Ruler in the Handicap hurdle and Wayne Hutchinson gave him a perfect ride. He seems to have run into a very well handicapped horse of Kevin Morgan’s. He was carrying top weight and Wayne said after that he needed the step up to 3 miles – just as we had said before the race! He jumped fantastically, but he needed to after his poor effort last time! Tom Siddall is a real team player as he has been doing a lot of work with his jumping, and as Ruler is Wayne’s ride, he did not therefore reap the benefits. We will be aiming for another race in a few weeks. Today we broke our hoodoo of not winning a race for 3 months. The horses have all been place but not won…………until today! No Greater Love ran an absolute blinder to win at Stratford this afternoon. It is his first win in over a year, and although I could be tempted to run him under a penalty, he is such a wily horse that he needs a good 3 weeks between races or there is a chance he could go sour. I have not yet looked for any options for him, but I know he will be looking forward to going in the field tomorrow morning! Tomorrow we are going to take a few over to Martin Keighley’s to do final bits of work before their first runs of the season. I am sure I will let you know how they got on tomorrow evening! |
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| Monday 27th October 2008 I was delighted with Great Tsar yesterday at Towcester. It was just a shame that he ran in to a very well handicapped horse of Andy Turnell's - whose horses are on flying form. It was his first time over fences and he jumped brilliantly. Tom David gave him a very good ride and I am sure 'Tsar' will be winning before long. The only problem is that he keeps on running well without winning and therefore will keep going up in the handicap. It will make it harder and harder to win, but hopefully we will find the perfect race next time! Today I drove to Newmarket first thing for the sales. I have been looking at horses all day with Richard Denness and his wife from the 'Runthatbymeagain' syndicate. There were plenty of very good looking horses, but as you can imagine, with all the top trainers present, they were selling for far too much money - the credit crunch is definitely not affecting the top end of the Racing market!! We did though manage to buy a horse for the syndicate - lot 307 called Loco Grande who was in training with TomStack in Ireland and won a race last week in Tipperary on Heavy ground. He has plenty of size and scope and he will be learning how to jump as soon as he gets home. Tomorrow I am back home and we will be giving a few horses important final work outs before their first races of the season. |
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| Friday 24th October 2008 Tom Siddall came in this morning on his way back from Lambourn, so we decidedto school a few of the Chasers. Mister Watzisname and Iwillrememberyou both jumped very well. Both are careful, but a couple more sessions and they should sharpen up. Then Borisova and Otage de Brion went up. After slightly ‘jittering’ at the first Otage was good, but I will look for a left handed race for him next time as, at this stage in his career, he makes room for himself by slightly going left handed at the fences. Boris will be good. We have a month to tidy him up and he will be an out and out stayer. Great Tsar and Red Acres had their last schooling session before their runs this weekend and next Wednesday respectively. Fingers crossed they can put up bold displays! The last horse to jump was Songe. He seemed to absolutely love it and I cannot wait to see him in his first Novice Chase. Afterwards we schooled Court Ruler and Court Princess over hurdles. Ruler was perfect and runs next Wednesday. Princess was very ‘spooky’ but once she got going was absolutely fine. A few more sessions and she will be ready to run. Great Tsar is our only runner this weekend at Towcester. As long as the ground does not get too wet, he should run a good race. Young Tom David rides and takes a valuable 7lbs off his back. He also has a ride in the Amateur hurdle, which may have an each-way chance. Next week I am off to the sales in Newmarket, where I have a couple of orders. The first is for the “Runthatbymeagain” partnership, and we have a long list of possible horses. The second is for Angela Cookson. For her we are looking for a cheap but tough horse which her son can ride and hopefully pick up the odd race. Tomorrow we are taking 4 horses over to Martin Keighley’s grass to do important bits of working, which should put them only 1-2 weeks off running. Iwillrememberyou and Mister Watzisname are almost ready to run, and if the rain does come they will be ready to go. The other 2 are Sir Ian and Island Jim. Iwould be keen to run them both soon in Bumpers as they need to get the education and racecourse experience. For them there are a few races in the middle of next month which could be suitable. |
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| Thursday 23rd October 2008 On Tuesday we took Russian Flag to the sales. It was a desperate market with none of the big trainers at the sale. Russian was definitely one of the ‘stand’ out horses and attracted a huge amount of attention. He sold for £12,500 to Neil King, who saw off the Turner’s – a pointing family from Norfolk. We were pleased with the result and I am sure Neil will get the best out of the horse and manage to win a small race or too. What I can say is that he has bought a very tough and sound horse who improved no end in his time here. Gary Norton from Sickling Hall was there to help us. Then yesterday we went to Southwell with Orphelin Collonges and Crystal Prince. In the morning we spoke to the clerk of the course and he told us the ground had changed to the quicker side of Good ground. We took both horses, but I pulled Orphelin once I had walked the track. It was definitely too quick for him. It walked like good ‘Summer’ ground and he really is a Winter ‘Good’ or Softer ground horse. It was a pity because 3 others pulled out at it turned into a very poor race which he would have undoubtedly won, BUT if he had come back with a leg we really would have been regretting it. Crystal did run and put up a hugely improved performance from his last hurdle run at Bangor. He jumped brilliantly and just got tired 3 furlongs out. Next time I will drop him back to 2m. He will definitely get 2m4f, but not if he is taken on like he was yesterday. Finishing 4th in a fairly decent race was very pleasing and it was the first runner for the “Bears and Bulls.” He will win a race soon, most probably when he is handicapped, and will be placed again before that. He is fine this morning g and I will look for a suitable race in a couple of weeks. I hope the rain arrives tonight and then we plan to school a fair few including: Otage de Brion, Mister Songe, Watzisname and Court Princess later on tomorrow morning. It certainly looks as though it will. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes to the ground over the weekend. I do not want it to get too sticky. That is the problem. We have had no rain for the last few weeks and it is like the road everywhere, and I can see with the rain coming, there will be no nice ground and it will go straight to soft, ‘tacky’ ground! Two new horses have arrived in the last 24 hours and both are for new owners, so I would like to welcome David Bishop and his syndicate “The League of Gentleman”. Illogical Hope arrived this morning from Gill Tate, where he has been doing his pre-training. I have to say he looks fantastic and we will have our work cut out to keep him looking that smart!! He was in training last year with David Wintle, who is about to retire so David and his team have very kindly sent him to us. He is a good looking sort who seems as if he has needed his time to grow and strengthen up. It is now time for him to kick on and could be ready to run in a month. Whether we run him in a Hurdle or grow straight Chasing, I am not yet sure, but we will start finding out tomorrow morning!! The other new horse arrived late last night from Doncaster Sales. He is called Brize Norton and is owned by Jackie Stokes and a team from Ireland. He was in training with Victor Dartnell during the summer having come over from Ireland. He is a great looking horse who is ready to run and we will aim him either at a chase or a hurdle on ‘good’ going in a couple of weeks. |
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| Monday 20th October 2008 Otage de Brion ran yesterday in what a few people billed as the Arkle of the Autumn! All was going well until Otage tried to jump the first Open ditch from outside the wings. He landed fine the other side, but lost his hind legs and slid 20 metres along the grass. He therefore lost at least 10 lengths and all momentum. I thought at that stage that Jamie Moore would jump one more and then pull the horse up as we were some 15 lengths off the front horse. To give the horse his due he gradually got back into the race and I thought turning in he would run on and get 3rd. In the end he got tired 2 furlongs out. Considering it was such a bad mistake, I thought he ran well enough, although I am very disappointed. The mistake must have cost him the best part of 25-30 lengths. He seems fine this morning and we will do some intensive schooling before his next run – hopefully we can teach him to not be so bold. Songe will join him as I am keen to run him on the 3rd November at Warwick . Tomorrow Russian Flag goes to the sales. He should be one of the stand out lots in the sale so hopefully will get plenty of attention. Later this week, we will have a few runners. Hopefully the rain will arrive and Orphelin Collonges and Crystal Prince will go to Southwell on Wednesday. Fort Augustus will probably go to Ludlow on Thursday and then we will also have a few at the weekend. Now, we just need our luck to change. The horses are running well, but anything that can go wrong is – more to the point, we need a WINNER! |
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| Saturday 18th October 2008 Fort Augustus ran on Thursday and was disappointingly pulled up after only 2 miles. Jason Maguire replaced Tom and said he tried to run the whole race in one breath, so consequently ‘fell in a heap’ when he could hold it no longer. We will give him one more chance and drop the horse in last and try and get him to relax and breath. As Jason said, you have to give him a chance as he had only run once before and does not know how to race. Yesterday Russian Flag ran at Cheltenham, and we were delighted with his performance. He finished 9th of 20 in what was a very, very competitive Novice Hurdle. He was 10lbs out of the Handicap, so he definitely ran well above his mark. Jockeys got off after the race saying that they had never gone so fast in a Novice Hurdle. Then, as Sean said, Russian never had a chance to be strong, but ran on very well down the hill. He now unfortunately goes to the sales on Tuesday. He should make decent money for Sir Robert – fingers crossed he may send us a nice replacement??!!?? We run Otage de Brion in a Novice Chase at Kempton tomorrow. Like all the races at present, it is going to be a very decent race. Imsingingtheblues, Greenbridge and Hide the Evidence all run, and I am sure their trainers will be hoping they turn into being Arkle prospects later in the season. I hope that Otage will run a decent race and I think that a decent gallop will suit us (we will want further in time) and it would be nice to run in to a place. I see that the Racing Post have him at 7-1 and that could be a good each-way price. Tonight Sophie and I are going to a Charity Race night. It is all in aid of the Countryside Alliance and we are sponsoring a race. Every horse in each race is auctioned off and then the winner gets a percentage of the auction money and the rest goes to charity. It is a great idea of the Warwickshire Hunt and I know it will be a late evening……..! |
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| Thursday 16th October 2008 It has been a manic morning this morning, with endless horses schooling and 2 owners in also. I am now about to go off to Ludlow with Fort Augustus.Tom Siddall, Sean Quinlan and Ken Whelan (top Irish jockey)were all in this morning, so we took the opportunity to school as many as possible. In the school we jumped Direct Approach, Chantoosy, Court Princess, Mister Watzisname, King de Lune Borisova, The Bob Back filly and the Bobs Return Gelding. All were very good especially all the youngsters. Second lot we jumped out on the schooling ground. We jumped Otage de Brion, Great Tsar, Red Acres, Orphelin Collonges, No Greater Love, Strategic Plan, Crystal Prince and Court Ruler. Again all were very good and it was great to have all the boys in as you can then get so many done. However after Tom Siddall’s fall yesterday off Galaxia, I do not think he will be able to take the ride on Fort Augustus at Ludlow. He was hoping the more horses he rode out today, the better his leg would get. I will get to Ludlow before making a decision on his replacement, but we have plenty of options including Ken Whelan, Paddy Brennan and Jason Maguire. Tomorrow Russian Flag has squeezed into the Novice Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham. Sean Quinlan rides, and I really think he is the perfect partner for the horse. His 5lb claim will be invaluable as he is a little way out of the handicap. Peter and Sally Harris came in briefly to watch No Greater Love school over the fences. He will school one more time before he runs at the end of the month. Mr and Mrs Coates have just left the yard having seen Island Jim for the first time. The are the final members of his syndicate to see him, and he will be ready for them in 6 weeks. It is now a quick change and then I am driving the lorry to Ludlow!! |
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| Tuesday 14th October 2008 Horses have been going out all day. If they have not been working they have been schooling over jumps in the school. Otage de Brion did his final bit of work before Kempton this weekend. He did an easy bit with Orphelin Collonges, who is entered on Thursday at Ludlow, though I think it will be far too quick for him to run. He has other options next week at both Exeter and Southwell. Red Acres and Crystal Prince also did easy bits of work. Red Acres has been entered at Exeter next Tuesday, and I will need to get a good schooling session into him before running there. If not we will have to wait for Towcester on 26th or Huntingdon on the 29th October. Crystal Prince will run next Monday at Plumpton for his new owners the “Bulls and Bears.” Other horses to work included Mister Watzisname , Court Princess and Iwillrememberyou. All 3 will be ready in a couple of weeks ground depending. King de Lune and the Bobs Return youngster both did their first bit of work. They will be ready in 3 weeks and both need a new owners. Please get in touch if interested. King de Lune has won 3 times on the flat and been placed over hurdles at the Grade 1 tracks in France. The Bobs Return is a stunning youngster and a half brother to the very useful Travino. He will be a proper chaser in a couple of years, but he could also be very useful over hurdles this season. This afternoon we jumped 8 in the school. This included Court Ruler and Prairie Spirit again. Court Ruler must have lost a little confidence after Saturday, but today he was back to his best. Other horses to jump included: Sir Ian, Borisova, Mister Watzisname, Court Princess, Island Jim and Direct Approach. All were very good, but if I had to mention one it would be Sir Ian, he really is very athletic. He has not yet hit the racecourse, and Philip and Louise Stevenson have been very patient, but when he does (about 5-6 weeks) he will be very exciting. |
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| Monday 13th October 2008 Well it was a slightly disappointing Saturday. There is no doubt that Songe’s race was very ‘hot’ and Crack Away Jack turned out to be a very impressive winner, BUT Songe did not run his race. Tom Siddall said after the race, that turning in to the home straight he thought that he was going to have a very good chance, but when then front few quickened, Songe did not seem to let himself down fully. He even made a couple of mistakes up the home straight which is very unusual for him. Whether it was down to ground being slightly too quick, I am not sure. All his form in the past has been on softer than Good ground, but as he has such a good action we thought the ground would not be a problem. We also just wondered whether his trip up to Market Rasen 2 weekends ago had taken the edge off him. We will now go back to the ‘drawing board’ and work out what we do next. Ideally I would love to find a nice easy race to get some confidence back, but with him being off such a high mark, he can only run in the best of Handicap Hurdles. Therefore we might school him at home and find a Novice Chase. We can always go back hurdling later on in the season. Court Ruler jumped terribly and probably lost 20+ lengths throughout the race. He has come back as if he never ran, so we will start jumping him again this afternoon in the school. I was disappointed as he had jumped very well at home and being a seasoned Handicapper I expected the jumping not to be an issue. You learn something new every day and we will certainly change our tactics next time and give him a little bit of daylight going to the first hurdle. We may also step him up in trip to nearly 3m as all he did at the end was stay on. There are a couple of options for him in a couple of weeks. We are desperate for the rain to arrive so we can catch up with the schooling. This afternoon and tomorrow morning we will take as many as possible into the school and get them over the Show Jumps. At least it will get them off the ground. If the rain does not arrive, we will have very few runners – probably only Fort Augustus on either Wednesday or Thursday. Frustration is now starting to set in as we cannot seem to have a winner, even though the horses continue to run well. This month has been good to us over the past couple of years, so we need to keep the ball rolling! I am sure the winners are just round the corner – as long as the rain arrives!! |
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| Friday 10th October 2008 Its Friday and I have not managed to write a blog for 3 days – many apologies. Time seems to just run away with you when you have endless runners. I have been delighted with all our runners. Great Tsar was a very good 4th at Towcester on Wednesday. Tom David gave him a lovely ride and he was only beaten a couple of lengths. He was an absolute fool in the paddock, bucking and squealing. I even had to help Katie with leading him round. Tom said that he thought he might fall off him on the way to the start he was so mad! We will now look to running him in a few weeks and if Tom plays his cards right, he will keep the ride! Yesterday we had probably our most busy day since we started racing. We had 4 runners, 3 at Southwell and 1 at Wincanton. Lyical Assassin ran another solid race to be a close 3rd. Until the Handicapper wakes up and drops him in the Handicap, he will struggle to win. I will run him one more time before the ground goes soft, preferably over fences. Russian Flag ran another good race to also be 3rd. He just cannot quite get his head in front. He will definitely win very soon, and Tom O’Brien said we should aim him for a 2m Handicap Chase at Ludlow. However, unfortunately he goes to the sales in 10 days – he could be a very nice buy for someone. Before that we may just run him next Friday at Cheltenham in The Jewson’s race. Mollys Garden ran a blinder to be 2nd in the Bumper. It turned out to be a very competitive race with N.J.Henderson’s being highly fancied and sent off odds-on favourite. Sean Quinlin also fancied his. We were only beaten a length on a track we knew was slightly on the sharp side for him and the ground was as lively as he would have wanted it. We will look for another race in about 3 weeks, where the track is a more galloping one and the ground is a little softer. The ‘Hopeful Seven’ seem to be delighted and it was great that we could start so well for them. Strategic Plan was the only slight disappointment. He came 5th, but travelled like the winner all the way till entering the home straight, and then he just flattened out. We may have left a little bit of work to be done with him and we will therefore see how we get on next time. Tomorrow is going to be a huge day for us. Songe and Court Ruler both run at Chepstow. This Chepstow meeting is traditionally known as the Beginning of the ‘proper’ National Hunt Season and Songe runs in the big race. As you can imagine, it looks very competitive with both Crack Away Jack and Five Dream running. But we need to know where we stand with the horse for the rest of the season and the result here will very much determine what we do with him next. Court Ruler’s race again looks competitive with all the top trainers represented. Fingers crossed that we can break our ‘placed’ sequence and one of them will win! |
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| Tuesday 7th October 2008 Well we have not had too busy a work morning, as quite a few will run this week depending on the ground. I was pleased with all the horses, especially Otage de Brion and Crystal Prince who are ready to go. We even took Court Ruler and Orphelin Collonges over to Martin Keighley’s grass gallops. I was delighted and Court Ruler should be ready to run this weekend. Orphelin Collonges may well run next week either at Ludlow or Exeter. We had the Westcote Inn syndicate in to watch Towmater do his second bit of work with Mister Watzisname. All going well, both will be ready to run in about 3 weeks. There was a strong turn out of about 12. I do know that there are a couple of shares left in the syndicate so do get hold of Tom Gittins who runs the syndicate on www.foxtrot.co.uk Tomorrow Great Tsar runs in a Handicap Hurdle at Towcester. He seems to be on great form at home and I hope they do not get too much rain. We all know how soft and tiring the course can get. Our amateur Tom David rides. Tom has had 4 winners under rules and Chris Broad (the agent) has him on his books. I think Tom could have a very good season this year before turning professional and I would like to help him achieve this as much as possible – as long as he puts the graft in!! On Thursday we hope to have 4 runners. Russian Flag will go to Wincanton and then Lyical Assassin, Mollys Garden and Strategic Plan will all go to Southwell. But all these will depend on what rain the 2 courses have had over the last 24 hours. I know that tomorrow is dry and they will undoubtedly dry out a certain amount before Thursday. Therefore I would expect both Wincanton and Southwell to be ‘Good’ ground. We may also have a couple of runners this weekend. Songe is entered in the big 4yo Hurdle at Chepstow. He will work tomorrow morning to decide if he runs or not. This race will determine his plans for the rest of the season. If he runs well, we will aim for all the big hurdles and handicaps. If not, we will most likely go Chasing, where we have a handy age allowance. Court Ruler could also go this weekend in the 0-130 Handicap Hurdle. He is on flying form and I would expect a bold run. |
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| Sunday 5th October 2008 I was delighted with No Greater Love yesterday at Fontwell. He came second in what was a very competitive race, running to a career high performance. I was slightly worried before the race that the rain had changed the going to the softer side and as most his form was on quick ground we nearly pulled him out. However Peter Harris had other ideas so we ran. We also changed tactics with him and made all in the race. They so nearly paid off as we were only caught in the last hundred yards. It is great to see the horse run with so much enthusiasm. He seems to have come out of the race very well, and we will now give him a very small break and try and keep him sweet for his next race. My predictions were right that Jamie Snowden would have his first winner at Fontwell, but I was 10 days out. Marsh Court ran out an impressive winner of the Novice Hurdle and then returned to the winner’s enclosure to a very excited and noisy trainer. It is fantastic news for Jamie and a huge relief for him to the first one under the belt!! We have withdrawn Fort Augustus today from Uttoxeter. The going has changed to Soft ground from the good-firm it was yesterday. I know some places are meant to have a month’s rain in 24 hours so our plans for the week could change quite dramatically. All 3 of Tom Siddall’s rides are non-runners, so he has ‘hot footed’ it to Kelso to ride one of Kim Bailey’s – I hope the long trek is worth it!! |
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| Friday 3rd October 2008 It was another very hectic day here. Alan Roche (our Head Lad) was not in as he had a family wedding back in Ireland. It meant we all had five lots, but the lads pulled together and we were still finished this morning by 12.30. We have declared 2 for the weekend. No Greater love faces 13 opponents at Fontwell tomorrow. There look to 3-4 fairly useful horses in the race. The most important thing with him will be for us to see that he races tomorrow with all his old enthusiasm. His last few runs for Ian Williams were very disappointing and we hope that the move to us and the change of scenery has sweetened him up. Fort Augustus runs in the Seller at Uttoxeter on Sunday, facing 17 others. Being a fairly strong horse, I hope this many horses does not wind him up. We will also see what rain there is over the next 48 hours as we would not want the ground to get too soft. Tomorrow is also work morning and Tom Siddall will be in to do as many bits of work as possible. It will be the final bits of work for the likes of Strategic Plan, Great Tsar, Mollys Garden and Lyical Assassin before they run next week. It means that they will not work too hard, as we do not want them to run their race before they get to the racecourse. Otage de Brion and Songe will also do easy bits as one runs next weekend and the other the following week. Having worked at Market Rasen last weekend they are both now ready and we just want to keep them sweet. Two horses are arriving this weekend from Ireland. The first is a 3yo Marignon Filly who was bought this Summer at the Derby Sale in Fairyhouse. She has been broken by Nick Stokes and been leased to a syndicate run by the Racing Post's Matty Williams. The other is a 3yo by Peintre Celebre who is owned by Luke Lillingstone. He has come over to be aimed at some of the Juvenile Bumpers over the next few months. If we can win one we will try and sell him on. I have not seen either yet and will report on how they have settled in after the weekend. |
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| Thursday 2nd October 2008 Despite us having some rain over the last few days, the strong winds have meant the ground has dried out as soon as the rain hits it! Consequently, my plan of having a big schooling session today was abandoned. We did however school our four most imminent runners. Fort Augustus and Great Tsar jumped both the hurdles and fences. They really do jump very well. Great Tsar will either run in the beginners Chase or Handicap Hurdle next Wednesday at Towcester. Fort Augustus either runs this weekend or in the same Beginners Chase at Towcester. I will have to make my decision with him by tomorrow morning, and I am probably leaning slightly towards this weekend, as it will be a weaker race. But then again there will be a full field of 18 runners on Sunday and only 8/9 next week – decisions, decisions!! The other 2 to school were Strategic Plan and No Greater Love. No Greater Love runs on Saturday and Strategic Plan will try and get in to a Novice Hurdle at Southwell next Thursday. I would love to run Strategic Plan over fences as he jumps them brilliantly. Unfortunately there would be no race for him until the end of the month, unless I want to travel to either Kelso or Hexham! |
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| Monday 29th September 2008 Well, it was certainly a very mixed day yesterday at Market Rasen. Russian Flag was sent off 5-1 joint favourite in the Handicap Hurdle. Unfortunately half way down the back straight, the horse 2 in front of him fell, bringing him and 3 others down. It was a horrific pile up with one of the horse’s having to be put down. Thankfully Russian was OK as were all the jockeys – just bruised pride. This morning, naturally he is fairly stiff and has a very bruised nose. After racing, we worked both Songe and Otage de Brion. It was beautiful ground and they did a nice bit, which will hopefully bring them on a huge amount and have them ready to run in 2 weeks. Songe will still be aimed at Chepstow on the 11th October, but we are yet to decide where we go with Otage – possibly a 2 mile Novice Chase the following week at Kempton. I was delighted with the way everything worked on Saturday. No Greater Love and Strategic Plan are ready to run and may go this weekend depending on what rain we have before then. Court Ruler and Great Tsar just need a couple of more bits before they are ready. Orphelin Collonges has suddenly turned a corner and is blooming. I very much look forward to him reaching the race course next month. This week, Court Princess and Tara Taylor will their first bit of work, and then by the end of the week Tequilla Bob, Towmater and Mister Watzisname will also start . I really am very excited about all these doing their work. All of them are exciting prospects for the season and, all going well, will be ready to run at the end of October. The weather has been fantastic for the last 2 weeks, but we are very keen for the rain to arrive. Our horses are nearly all ready, but I will not run on the quick ground. We are also very keen to do some more schooling, but it is rock hard at present and we will only cause damage if we did it now. |
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| Friday 26th September 2008 Well, it was certainly a better result yesterday at Fontwell than last Tuesday at Sedgefield. Lyical Assassin ran a very creditable race to be third. He was beaten by 2 decent horses, and hopefully the handicapper will now realise that giving him an English Handicap mark of 124 was ridiculous! We have also learnt a huge amount about the horse. Firstly he needs to run in a tongue tie. This is because he was trying to swallow his tongue with ¾ of a mile to race. And secondly, although he loved the ground, he was ‘flat to the boards’ the whole way round, so we will probably step him up to 3 miles. I would love to run him again ASAP, bit he did get struck into behind, we will probably have to wait until the staples come out in 10 days. As I have always said in the past, I really am a very bad tipster. I said in my blog that I thought Jamie Snowden would have his first winner yesterday. Unfortunately the trip was too short for Lester Leaps In and he was outpaced up the home straight. I am sure it will not be long before his first winner arrives. Russian Flag is going to run at Market Rasen on Sunday. It will be his first time in Handicap company and AP McCoy rides. There are 17 in the race and despite it being a fairly competitive race I hope he will run well. I am also going to take Songe up to Market Rasen to do a bit of work after racing – he is now pretty fit, but it will just tighten him up a bit more and it is always good to have a racecourse gallop before starting off the campaign. It will be perfect timing if he goes to Chepstow on the 11th October. I am keen to take Otage de Brion as well as it will do him the world of good before his first run in 2-3 weeks. The rest of the horses will be working in the morning and we will have a couple of owners here to see their horses on the gallops. We will have a few members of the ‘Plundering Cow’ syndicate to see Great Tsar and then we will also have Roy Swinburne to see Omega King work and watch Pacha Lagrange on the gallops for the first time. |
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