Kauto Star

It was great to see Kauto Star win the King George for a 5^th time – a terrific performance from all involved.

The one thing that stood out for me about the horse is that he is very comfortable on both leads and is a much better jumper than the rest.  He would have learnt his jumping in France, probably as a 2 year old, which would have made a big difference.  He changed his legs over 25 times in the race and if you look closely he will sometimes change his leg going into a fence whether it be 10 strides out or on his last stride, so he is putting himself right (there is no instruction from the jockey to do this).  This is a huge advantage and out of all the fences he jumped, there was only one he had to ‘fiddle’.  So he must be supple in his body and pretty ambidextrous.  For a horse to be at his best it is good if they can spend the same amount of time on both leads and not favour one over the other. 

Note that Long Run changed onto the wrong lead coming round the home turn because he was tired on his right lead (correct lead for the bend); he then became unbalanced and it wouldn’t have helped his cause at all.  In the US, they say if you come round the home turn on the wrong leg it will cost you a minimum of 2 lengths at the finish…!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year and all that 2012 brings.  Please see the picture below of an old yard favourite, Kavi, wishing everyone a Happy Christmas from his home in Shropshire!  Picture courtesy of his now owners - Steve and Helen Newton.  Kavi often sends well wishes to his old mates on the yard and wishes them luck when they run.  He is still barefoot and is well and enjoying his retirement.

Chord & Opera Prince

We had two runners last week and a good week it was!  First up was Chord on Monday at Plumpton in a 2 ½m handicap chase - it was his first run for a while and he tried really hard as he always does - as did the jockey!  It didn’t look good at the start of the back straight but Andrew didn’t give up on him and nor did the horse and they ran on to finish 4^th, beaten by just over 6 lengths.  I felt watching the race that he didn’t look totally comfortable and our vet, Buffy Shirley-Beaven, came to have a look at him on Thursday – as suggested by our physio, Anita Miles.  I think there is room for improvement, and I was pleased with the Racing Post comments:  “Chord ran well on ground that would have been soft enough. He´s capable of winning something similar on drier ground.”

                On Thursday we had Opera Prince run at Kempton in a 1m 2f flat all-weather race, which was his first run since April after joining us from Lady Herries’ yard.  He finished 2^nd under a good ride from ex-jump jockey Jim Crowley.  We were very keen for the horse to run well for Robert Dacombe and I am very pleased that it happened.  Both Robert and his son Jack were at the races, and smiling; it is much deserved and good to see.   It was the horse’s first run for us, and we are hoping he will go on from there.