23 November 2022
There was talk in the yard this morning on whether Zestful Hope would be a runner or not due to the recent rainfall. The ground had changed to Soft, Heavy in places at Hereford. It then becomes a stiff task for Zestful Hope to carry top weight, 12st 2lb on Heavy ground. However, he proved us wrong by putting in a polished performance under Paul O’Brien to stay on gamely win comfortably. It was wet winter ground, and therefore had not become tacky yet and the horses are able to slop through it, which suited us. Congratulations to owner Gillian Morgan, hopefully plenty more to come.
The weather is certainly changing towards winter, it has suddenly dropped those couple of degrees colder and the rain is continuing to come down. It was a morning of two halves today, torrential rain for the first two lots, before bright sunny spells for the rest of the morning. It is a hot topic at the moment, and the ground is constantly changing.
Lilly was in this morning. We schooled a few in the school. Almazhar Garde, Snow Leopardess and Castle Robin all had a pop. They are possibly three of our best jumpers and horses in the yard, yet their recent form figures say different. Luckily, it appears as though no confidence is lost, and they will be back out again soon. Tommy Cullen then led the lovely Jetaway X Palmito youngster over the hurdles, he was very good once he realised, they weren’t scary.
The Mighty Arc heads to Doncaster on Friday with Kielan Woods on board. No No Tango and Everyonesgame are at Newbury with Paul O’Brien steering. Éclair On Line, Rare Edition and Imperial Jade are entered at Doncaster on Saturday. A rare Sunday of no entries this time of year, and then Ardbraccan is in at Catterick on Monday and Somekindofstar at Southwell on Tuesday.
Flora has been starting to ride out on Thursdays. She comes in every Thursday to give the horses physio anyway. She likes to ride out as she can then get a feel and get to know each horse and their individual needs. Therefore, she can tailor her treatment and understand them better.
