Thursday 21 November 2013

An update: Cheltenham, EPDS, Zakatal

           We were extremely pleased with Red Not Blue who ran at Cheltenham on Saturday over 3m1f.  We all thought that he would struggle as the ground was ‘dead’ and tiring; coupled with the fact that it was a big field which he doesn’t have a great record of running well in.  Saturday’s race was a Class 1 Listed race, which meant that he was up against some of the best staying handicappers in the country.  Paddy Brennan gave him a lovely ride from the back, and Red Not Blue ran on past horses right to the line.  Paddy reported that he was too good for a summer horse and that we should run him at The Cheltenham Festival in March!  Dreams are still alive for us all!
           This week has been all about owners coming to see their horses.  John Powell who runs EPDS Racing came to see all the EPDS horses on Monday (Loxley Mezile, Homer Run and Money Maid) as well as his own horse Benozzo Gozzoli.  He came with his friend, Christina, who was visiting from Canada and she seemed quite comfortable with the horses, as you can see from this photo below. Homer Run was having a morning of doing some grid work and is pictured here being ridden by Hannah Gay. 


Homer Run

David Furman came down from Yorkshire on Tuesday to see his horse Zakatal do some flat work in the indoor school.  The horse hasn’t been with us long and has been doing really well in this type of work as we have been trying to get him to use himself differently and Zak has been very willing.  However, on Tuesday he was not doing what I was asking him to do and we had to stop and didn't even attempt to canter.  Luckily David had brought with him his cranial-sacral therapist – Fiona Varian.  We stopped work with Zak, popped him back in his box and Fiona gave him a lengthy treatment.  The boys in the meantime went to the pub and left her treating Zak for a couple of hours.  We then took Zak back to the indoor school and tried him again.  He was totally different and much more willing and dropped his head lovely.  Definitely down to the practitioner and not the fact that the rider had had a pint of Guinness in the pub!  Beccy Smith also came down yesterday from Brough, up near Hull, to fit Zak his new saddle.  This is fantastic for Zak as hopefully he can build up his back muscles properly with a saddle that is made to measure for him. 
                Lastly, Gillian Goldsmith popped by to visit her horse Already Basking and she is very excited about him running.  And Mrs Bridel came by last night to visit Headly’s Bridge and she is also looking forward to him running again soon. 

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