Wednesday 22 January 2014

Royal Signaller - new horse and new owners


We are absolutely delighted to welcome new owners, Mr Brian Hargie and his father Archibald to the yard.  Brian Hargie has bought a really lovely (now 4 year old) called Royal Signaller from the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training sale in October last year.  Royal Signaller is by Dylan Thomas and his half brother, Clowence Estate, is in training with Roger Charlton and rated 95 on the flat.
Royal Signaller ran 8 times as a 3 year old on the flat for Amanda Perrett and he is rated 82.  He won 2 races and was placed 5 times and only out of the money once.  His RPR (Racing Post Rating) improved right up to his last run (of 87), this suggests that he has more to offer and is still improving.  What is really nice is he didn’t run as a 2 year old so doesn’t have much mileage on the clock.  In his last run he made all at Bath over 1m5f and won, battling all the way to the line.  Since the sale in October he has been gelded and stayed at The National Stud under the care of bloodstock agent Stephen Hillen (who bought the horse on behalf of Brian Hargie).  Royal Signaller’s stable name is Rubens as the owner is a fan of Rubens Barrichello, his stable name really suits him. 
As we usually do when a new horse arrives we teach them a new way of going and using themselves – building up their core strength and aiming for them to be less one-sided and to get them to use themselves more evenly.  We get the new horses to drop their heads and use and stretch their back muscles thereby building up more ‘top line’ and muscle over their back and hindquarters.  Rubens has proven very willing, although this new way of going has not come naturally, with some horses it does take time.  The theory is that if the horses were stronger and well balanced then they would be using less energy than before to gallop so therefore they should be able to go faster for longer! 

The aim with Rubens is to run over hurdles but he may well also run on the flat.  Options are being kept very much open in these early days and we are looking forward to the year ahead.  He has certainly settled in well and we hope to give more updates on his progress shortly.


Royal Signaller

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