15 February 2022
Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates it has been a busy but good couple of days with lots of racing and a couple of winners!
A positive start to the weekend when Gaelic Park, half-brother to Chantry House, impressed on rules debut when winning the bumper strongly at Warwick under Jonathan Burke. Since joining the yard in December his work has been pleasing and it is great to see this backed up on the track, especially for his newly formed ‘Gaelic Park’ syndicate. Johnny said he showed bouts of greenness on the track but kept galloping on to the line. An exciting individual to look forward to.
It was then a positive end to the weekend with Snow Leopardess. She really is a terrific mare and won the Listed Mares Chase comfortably in extremely testing conditions at Exeter under Jonathan Burke. She chased the leaders, jumped magnificently, as always, and plugged on to the line to rack up at 12 length victory. It was not until Johnny pulled her out and pushed her that she really got going. It has been an unbeaten season for Snow so far. All roads now lead to Aintree, eek! She has already completed an exceptional series of achievements and is a once in a lifetime horse to have, an honour to train. Charlie and Sophie are currently up at Aintree today for the unveiling of the Grand National weights. Hopefully the win on Sunday has put her up a couple of extra pounds to secure her place.
In review of the runners last week, Peter’s Portrait and Moon King took to the track at Doncaster. They both put in pleasing performances. It was great to see Peter jump round, after falling last time out when making his return to the track after a year off, to finish 5th under Luca Morgan and Moon King ran a nice race to finish 4th under Sam Twiston Davies. Byzantium Lad stopped very quickly at Bangor and was pulled up immediately because of this, however he has come out of his race well and we have not found any abnormalities yet. He will get his wind checked. It is a shame as he was running a strong race, travelling, and jumping beautifully under Sean Quinlan for 2.5 miles. Alien Storm made his track debut at Kempton under Paul O’Brien and ran a lovely race to finish 5th. It looked a strong bumper, and he is sure to improve for the run. Yesterday Almazhar Garde and Stroll On By made the trip up to Catterick, these are two different horses but who have put together a string of really good performances to keep coming second! Almazhar added to this and came 2nd again under Luca Morgan, just bumping into an unexposed horse and jumping on ground that is slightly softer than his preference. Stroll On By ran another creditable race finishing 3rd. Brian Hughes was really pleased with the run, and Rolo could not quicken with the front two but stayed on well to the line. It looks as though we bumped into two nice horses in the bumper and Stroll On By did nothing wrong again.
Not to forget that it was valentines yesterday, I hope you all spoilt your loved ones. The team very kindly recieved Granny's yummy lemon cake (the best lemon cake ever) and home made heart shaped shortbread biscuits. A real treat.
Illegal Model is on his way to Lingfield today for the Novices’ Chase with Sean Bowen steering. This is provided racing goes ahead, at the moment the track is raceable but if they have anymore rain it will put it in doubt. Illegal Model has had a precautionary declaration for Sandown on Thursday because of this. On Wednesday, Glebe Road heads to Wetherby with Paul O’Brian on board. The Mighty Arc is entered up at Kelso on Friday as well as Haydock on Saturday, and Glencassley has an entry at Ascot on Saturday. Castle Robin has an entry at Newbury on Sunday and Carlisle on Monday, while Freethinker holds an entry at Lingfield on Monday.
Therefore, lots has been going on and the horses have been running well. We are currently off a 33% strike rate in the last 14 days (it was 40% before the two runners yesterday)! Let’s hope we can keep it up. Have a good week everyone.
