11 April 2022
It was brilliant to see Largy Nights get his head in front and break his maiden tag at Stratford on Sunday. A step up in trip to 3m3f, first time cheekpieces and Good ground seemed to improve his performance. A fantastic patient ride by Paul O’Brien, and it was great to see Largy really battle back after the last to get his head in front at the line. Well done to Lee Quirk who has been tuning him up at home. Hopefully there is more to come. We are delighted for his owner Mrs J A Wakefield.
It was a busy weekend for us, as you can imagine. It started on Friday with two runners at Sedgefield and one heading to Aintree. Haas Boy was running under a penalty over hurdles at Sedgefield with Johnny Burke. He ran a respectable race and finished a good 2nd. The Wise Traveller, also at Sedgefield under Johnny, was disappointing. This time back over hurdles. He was running a nice race before stopping quickly and pulling up after two out. Due Reward was having the first run of his campaign. Lilly Pinchin was on board in the Conditional Jockey’s hurdle at Aintree. He jumped and travelled in what was a very quickly run race, before fading on the home turn. He will have slightly needed the run and will come on for it massively. We are looking forward to a fun summer campaign ahead.
It was then Saturday. The long anticipated day was finally here. Sadly, it was not the result that we had all dreamed of, but she is back safe, and sound and we could not ask for anymore than that. We had been praying for the rain, and it did not arrive. The ground was Good, and as we expected they went off so quickly that she could not get that front running position she likes. It was an extremely fast run national, and she was flat out from the word go. Aidan did absolutely the right thing when pulling up before heading out on the second circuit. She came back a happy horse. If the ground was softer, it could have been a different result, but it was not. Snow Leopardess is now back at Knowlton Court enjoying her well deserved holidays. Her fantastic season is not to be dismissed by this performance. She went into the National having won all three of her starts this season. It was a shame not to have the fairy tale ending, but it was great to see another fairy tale unfold in the Grand National. It was magnificent to see Sam Waley-Cohen win on his final ever ride. That is what dreams are made of. We are thrilled for Sam, the Waley-Cohen family and Emmet Mullins. A super story, and we could not be happier for the winners.
Scene Not Herd was due to run at Aintree on Saturday, however he was not quite right in the morning and was therefore a Non-Runner. Western Zephyr did take to the track after the National. He ran in the bumper under Sean Bowen. He jumped out up with the pace and lead the field for quite away. However, went coming on the home bend he drifted very wide, and everyone sneaked up his inner. Sean reported that he was hanging quite bad but reckons this could be down to the horse still being quite green. We know he is a nice horse due to the Huntingdon result. He will have learnt lots at Aintree and will enjoy a summer out before going hurdling next season. Annoyingly, Parramount was balloted out at declaration stage for the bumper at Aintree. However, he could potentially head for a bumper at Punchestown. Despite this, we had a fabulous Aintree. The atmosphere is fantastic, and it could be described as Cheltenham’s after party!
This week we have Oscar Montel and Rare Edition declared at Southwell on Wednesday evening. It is now the time of year for evening meetings to return. Exeter on Thursday is also an evening meeting, and we have Freethinker and Horus Du Cerisier entered up there. Our other entries are all for Sunday across three meetings. At Ffos Las Byzantium Lad, Castle Robin, Guetapan Collonges, Peter’s Portrait and Horus Du Cerisier all hold entries. Horus Du Cerisier also holds an entry at Market Rasen with Rare Edition and If I Say is in at Plumpton.
Enjoy the week ahead.
