20 February 2020
WINNER!!!
What a great win from Shah an Shah yesterday at DOncaster... He has been so slow to get going, but patience has paid off and he was great yesterday. It was his first run over 3 miles, and I was a little concerned during the race that Aidan had been too positive on him, but he kept galloping and when the horse ran out at the last he kept straight and did not think about following him through the wings. To me it looked like we were a slightly fortuitous winner, however Aidan thought we were going to come back at the other horse and gone very close. Whatever the horse does this year will be a bonus as he will make into a really good chaser next season. He is from a great family which includes the lovely Snow Leopardess and we also have the 4yo brother back in the yard and he is FOR SALE!!
I was also delighted with Carlow Farmer's run. He was a good third in a strong looking Novice hurdle. Having been off for so long, I was not to worried about how strong the race looked, but I was more keen to get another run into him after his positive start at Exeter last month and I thought that if he had been in the first six i would have been very happy. That run will probably give him a handicap mark of at least 120, and I will now have to be clever and find him a Novice he can win before the end of the season.
It was great to have both WIll Kennedy and Paul O'Brien in yesterday morning and it gave us a good chance to jump a few horses. Especially Paul as he is in three days a week, but both of them along with Robbie Dunne and Aidan are all valuable members of the team in making sure our horses go to the racecourse as well schooled as can possibly be....
