7 May 2021
Thankfully Glimpse Of Gala is fine this morning. Herself and Paul took a nasty fall at Worcester when she was making her debut over hurdles yesterday. Gala actually did nothing wrong, and the horse to her right jumped into her and knocked her over basically. She is so small that she went tumbling down, but as we know is extremely tough and is happy out in the field this morning. Hopefully, this will not knock her confidence. Unfortunately, Paul had a nasty knock to the head, and was then stood down for the rest of the afternoon. Therefore, Ben Jones took the ride on Local Affair in the Handicap Hurdle. She ran on to come 5th, just did not quicken on the home bend. We potentially may look for a fence next time out with her.
At Huntingdon yesterday we had Hoot At Midnight who finished 6th under Charlie Deutsch. She was in a fast run 3m Handicap Hurdle and they went a relentless gallop from start to finish, and never came back to her like they normally would. It was great for Hoot to get a clear round and have a proper run after her bad luck in the previous three runs, none of which were her fault. Maxi Jazz also made his second appearance in five days at Huntingdon. The decision to run him at Huntingdon was due to the smaller field size. His debut for us was at Uttoxeter in a large field of 17, and as a result it was a very messy race with inconsistent pace and short of room. Max just got knocked around a bit to finish out the back. I do not often run horses in quick succession, but I could not resist the smaller field size. Due to his low handicap mark it is not often at the moment that the small field sizes come about, and he came out of his previous race fresh and well. I did not regret my decision to run him, and he ran a great race to finish 3rd. He really stayed on up the home straight and passed a couple horses which would have done wonders for his confidence, and it looks as though 3m is the better trip for him.
Today we have The Vollan, nicknamed The Villain at home, at Market Rasen and back over fences with Brian Hughes doing the steering. He really seems to be in good form at home, and we hope he runs his race today. Tomorrow we have The Wise Traveller making the long trip up to Hexham to make his debut over hurdles, again with Brian Hughes on board. Roche has come back out of retirement at the moment with lots of people on their holidays, and The Wise Traveller has been one of his rides. He tells me that he cannot hold him at home, so let’s hope that is the same on the track! Train Hill also makes his seasonal debut in the evening meeting at Warwick tomorrow with Kielan on board. Sunday, we have Jamacho making his seasonal debut at Ludlow, Will Kennedy will take the ride.
Considering it is meant to be out quiet time in the summer we have still been busy with runners and have been racing all over the place. We are yet to find out first winner of the season, but hopefully it is not far away. Calvario, Glencassley and Raven Court are entered at Southwell on Monday and Beyond The Clouds and Nightfly have entry for Sedgefield on Tuesday. Wednesday entries are for Champagne Noir, Raven Court and Midnight Jewel.
It has been a nice day here so far, but the weather looks awful tomorrow. We have a few visitors in and Gavin Sheehan is in to ride out, I am not sure they will manage to stay dry. I hope whatever you do this weekend is inside!
