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.

Opera Prince, Outside The Box and Red Not Blue

 We have had another good week schooling on Wednesday and Thursday.  In the first picture below we have Opera Prince doing his third session of grid work.  He is a nice horse who is totally genuine and tries very hard.  Robert Dacombe owns Opera Prince. Robert has supported the yard for a very long time and had the pleasure of owning Kavi a few years ago who was very successful for the yard.  We are hoping to run Prince on the flat soon, whilst at the same time preparing him for when he goes jumping.  He has won and been placed on the flat many times and we are very much looking forward to him running.

Opera Prince

Outside The Box also schooled yesterday and he did his usual round of – I can jump a house job!  He has such scope, is very clever and was very impressive again.

Outside The Box

Red Not Blue had his last school before he runs on Saturday at Cheltenham in a big £25,000 handicap hurdle on CH4 racing.  I don’t think he has ever carried less than 11st in a handicap and has mostly had to carry top weight or thereabouts of 11st 10/12 so it will be interesting to see how he runs with 10st 8 on his back.  It is a hot race, but I have always thought he would like a hill to race up and he is in good form and has done plenty of work.  The Plum Merchants who own Red Not Blue are going to be there in force and their dream is to have a winner at Cheltenham.  I am sure plenty of fun will be had on Saturday and maybe just a few pints of beer consumed!

Red Not Blue schooling with Luke Kilgarriff on board

Lisselan Amazon (IRE)

It is terrific to see another new horse arrive in the yard this week from Ascot sales on Wednesday, bought by EPDS Racing (www.epds-racing.co.uk).  She is called Lisselan Amazon (or Maisey as she is going to be known on the yard) and she has won on the flat in France, as well as being placed, and so far has won over £13,000 in prize money.   She looked as if she had a bit of a journey when she arrived late on Wednesday night; so we are letting her get over that and then we shall start on her and see how she is.

She is a lovely size and has clean legs, and is another filly bought by EPDS racing who has a cracking temperament.  It will be lovely to see how she jumps and then hopefully some fun can be had with her over the winter months.  She is currently having her routine bloods etc taken and hopefully she will be stabled next to Shilpa in the main racing yard, once she has passed the isolation/quarantine time.  We shall get a photograph of her up on the website as soon as possible.  Incidentally, Lisselan Amazon is 4 years old and has run over 1m2f in France.

The owners of Shilpa came to the yard last week to see their horse doing some grid work for the first time – please click on the links below and you will see how well she did (please excuse the jockey!).  And there are more slow motion photographs of Shilpa and video tagged on www.youtube.com under EPDS Racing.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Kbe0lxAec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3kcuSx1JnM  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRZTi_L0vQ  

Shilpa

This week I would like to introduce you to a new arrival to the yard, Shilpa, who was bought at the recent Cheltenham sale by new owners to the yard John Powell and Tracey Sloan.  Shilpa has won a few races and is by the very good sire Medicean.  She is 6 years old and currently rated 94 over hurdles and 92 over chase fences.

Shilpa is here with a view to going barefoot when she has her break; her feet look as if they have been well shod and it certainly looks at this stage that we should be able to achieve this.  It would appear from her race record that she likes Good to Firm ground so it will help her a great deal to stay sound by being barefoot.

We are delighted with her and the picture below shows her lunging and getting used to the rubber rein.  She is a very willing mare and likes to please, so we are really looking forward to galloping and schooling her.  It certainly looks at this stage as if John and Tracey have brought a real bargain!  
For those of you interested in Shilpa and the newly formed racing partnership, please click on the following link: http://www.epds-racing.co.uk/. 

New Whip Rules

                I think the new whip rules are a step in the right direction and it might take a while for it to settle into place but I think if we fast-forward a year all will be fine.  It is human nature to not like change so there are bound to be some grumbling – especially from the jockeys.  We must face that we are in an entertainment sport and if it weren’t for the paying public then we would all be out of a job, so we have to take into consideration their views.

                Every day at the races you see horses being hit too much, especially when they are winning anyway or clearly doing their level best and going as fast as they can.  I hate seeing a horse hit when it doesn’t need it.  I think banning of the whip totally will come in time and I don’t agree with people that say you need the stick to correct a horse from running out or drifting etc.  Often, the best way to stop a horse going off a straight line or running out is to keep both hands on the reins.  As you hit the horse you take your hand off the reins and at that vital moment you loose contact with the horse’s mouth and then it is too late.

                Without the use of the whip there will still be winners and we will still all make a living as before.  I also think if a horse doesn’t want to race and needs more than the requisite smacks to do so then there is probably something physically wrong with it and sorting the problem out will probably want it to race more than a whip.  I’ve seen horses racing that clearly hate the ground, causing them to hang, and they are still being whipped. 

Let’s get back to basics jockeys and instead of complaining, learn the skills that get your horses moving forward for you!  There are plenty of horsemen out there that can get the best tune out of the horse they are riding without the whip!

Owners' visit

Yesterday at 09.30 we had the pleasure of owners visiting the yard to see their horses school.  We were delighted to welcome the husband of Bridget O’Flynn, who owns Outside The Box and Penelope Bridel, owner of Headly’s Bridge with her daughter Jo to the yard.  We also had Luke Kilgarriff, amateur jockey, schooling Headly’s Bridge.  Luke was having his first school for over six months as he has been recovering from an operation to stop his shoulder dislocating.  He was certainly thrown in at the deep end, as we must have jumped 30 odd jumps of various shapes and size.

                By way of introduction, Luke first joined me when I was at my old yard as our conditional jockey.  From there he went on to be a conditional with Carl Llewellyn and has since decided to return to being an amateur jockey after taking the decision to re-train as a teacher.  A bright lad, recently getting 2 A*s at A level and 2 As, he has a place this autumn at Bath University to undertake his teaching studies.  Luke has rejoined Simon Earle Racing as a freelance work-rider and will be with us for hopefully four days a week.  For all those point-to-point trainers looking for an amateur, it is worth noting that Luke is light and can easily do 10 stone…

                Now back to the horses – I was very pleased with the way things went as Outside The Box was having his first school at home for us and Headly hasn’t schooled for a while.  I am very proud of the fact that we have had over 70 runners without a faller.  I have taken a lot from having had tuition from the likes of Yogi Breisner, Andrew Nicholson and a few other eventing people; coupled with my experiences when I was a jockey of riding inadequately schooled horses which was usually felt by me many times, quite painfully, on the racecourse!

                I like to see the riders sit still and ask nothing of the horse at a jump and let the horse make his own mistakes so they can learn from the mistakes themselves.  I hate having a horse that is waiting for the jockey to tell it what to do at a jump; firstly because often the jockey has to make a split second decision going into the jump and after all, he is human and could get it wrong; by which time the horse has probably worked out that it was going to do something different and then it is in two minds or becomes confused by the instruction, and falls.  Plus, let’s give the horse more credit; it doesn’t need our help for it to jump and can do it all itself quite naturally!

Headly's Bridge being schooled by Luke

Outside The Box being schooled by Simon

                Yesterday was a great day for us – not just seeing the horses jump well or sometimes not so well, making the errors they need to, here at home and learning from them; but also to see owners together – comparing their horses and telling the stories of the racecourse, where they bought their horses from and what draws them to racing.  Over a cup of coffee back at our house, we all thoroughly enjoyed the planning of the races in the coming weeks.  Having an open, relaxed environment for the owners is so important.  I love hearing their views and including them in the progress of their horses from arrival to race-day.  For those owners that wish to come and see their horses, you are as always welcome any time (including friends and family) and for those potential owners – do come along and see how we do things, we are happy to show you around.  If you have a horse that has jumping problems then we would be more than happy to help.



Outside The Box

                Over the coming weeks I shall be introducing some of the horses in the yard.  First up is Outside The Box, pictured below having his first all weather gallop yesterday, who arrived from Lambourn earlier this summer.  New owner to the yard, Bridget O’Flynn owns Outside The Box.

                Outside The Box (or Bobby as he is known informally) is a lovely big horse that uses himself very well.  He is a great mover with a powerful stride, is a real tryer and loves to get on with the job in hand.  I shall be concentrating on keeping him relaxed in his work over the coming weeks.  He has a lovely attitude with all he does, so you can imagine how much we are looking forward to him running.  He is currently rated 111.

Summer ends and the winter jumpers are on their way!

                With autumn around the corner, we managed to grab a few days away from the yard and head up to North Norfolk for a long weekend, which was lovely.  One of our favourite places to go and despite the time of year, not very many people about on the sands, with sea for as far as you can see!  I couldn’t help but think what a great natural all-weather the sands would be…a great place to bring the horses!  Maybe we could join in with The Household Cavalry next year when they stable near Holkham Beach!

Stiffkey Beach

                The time was perfect to go as we have had a few runners recently and these were having an easy week and the winter jumpers are only steady cantering.  I am really happy with the winter jumps horses although they have a bit of weight to lose still.  Not something I worry about too much as a healthy gut is most important and I have never restricted a horse’s intake, whether it is in or turned out (although they are mostly turned out at the moment).  The horses gut is meant to be working most of the day and night and when it eats it produces the saliva which is good to keep acidity levels down in the gut and help keep ulcers at bay.

                We are very much looking forward to the jumps horses having their first gallop which may be a couple of weeks away.  This time of year there is plenty of dreaming going on as to what races they will be winning over the coming months!  We certainly have some exciting additions to the yard to look forward to.

Newton Abbot - Mick Easterby - Hereford!

Newton Abbott:

                It looks as if the ground was too soft for Red Not Blue at Newton Abbott on Saturday; he tried but just couldn’t go in the ground.  As we were driving down it was raining a fair bit and with the watering as well that the course had done, it just went against us.  It was a fiercely competitive race and I couldn’t believe how many good horses he was giving weight to.  I was pleased to see Andrew take him wide and keep him out of trouble.  I always say to my jockeys if things aren’t right to pull them up and there is always another day and Andrew did exactly that.  The horse has come back fine and he was pleased to be back out in the paddock with the sun on his back on Sunday!

Mick Easterby:

                It was great listening to the interviews with the Easterby brothers on Channel 4 at York last week.  Both are very respected and it is well known that Mick Easterby is one of the shrewdest trainers in the country.  His words were ‘horses would last a lot longer if you don’t put shoes on them’.  I thought that was fabulous to hear and at least there is one person who understands what we are doing by training and running barefoot!

Hereford:

                Chord ran a very good race considering it was his first run for a while, to finish 3^rd at Hereford.  He would improve a fair bit for the run and we look forward to him running next time. 

Schooling

We had a good morning this morning doing grid work with Monday’s runners Chord & Bemused.  I was very pleased with them both; whilst they have done this all before many times - as always this was a case of them getting their eye in and sharpening them up.  I like to see them getting in close to the obstacle and being clever, as well as coming up off a nice stride.  A very satisfying morning.

Chord happy to warm himself up on his own.  Who needs jockeys!

Sam Goldsmith schooling Bemused

Simon above and below schooling Chord

The week ended better than I thought!

I worked a horse on the all-weather on Thursday and he hung quite a lot the last time up the gallop about 1 furlong from the end, and considering he has had a fair few problems in the past, I was worried that everything had all come back to hound us.  I was especially worried for the owner who has spent a bit to get this horse right and given him the time needed as well.

So, the first thing I did was to speak to Anita Miles (our Equine Manual Therapist who is pictured below treating Red Not Blue – who is not the horse in question!).  Anita came to the yard that afternoon and treated this horse after galloping on Thursday; he then had an easy day on Friday and then I galloped him at the weekend.  On Thursday when he had a problem, his time on the all-weather was 1:16.73 and he was at the end of his tether and at the weekend he did 1:13.26 and didn’t hang at all!  In fact he did it easily.

With anybody doing anything here, I need to see the results and the proof is in the pudding.  We are very fond of Anita who is a breath of fresh air when she comes to the yard; a sunny face and there is no doubt at all that I like her even more because I see the great results she has with the horses! 

1st -- Red Not Blue!

Red Not Blue won his 6^th race for us at Worcester on Friday; it was an amazing performance carrying top weight and his first win over 3 miles.

I think everybody here deserves a massive pat on the back considering he was a horse on the verge of retirement before he came to us.  We are lucky that we have such a good team of practitioners supporting us.  The main people working with Red Not Blue are our manual therapist - Anita Miles, vet - Buffy Shirley-Beaven and the barefoot trimmer - Chris Keable.  They have kept the horse sound and pain free therefore allowing him to run to the best of his ability.  It is remarkable how hard the horse tries as he really had to battle back from the last hurdle. 

I am not sure where he will run next and we will see how he is over the coming days.  He has just spent a lovely weekend out in the field with his mates and I noticed that when he went out on Saturday he galloped off to where he rolls, getting himself covered in mud and then doing a buck and a kick so that shows he is well – and very pleased with himself! 

Well done to everyone here – I find it incredibly satisfying and I am very proud of what we have done.  It is a massive achievement to win 6 races with this horse and he has been only once out of the money in his 12 runs - and that run was when he couldn’t go in the ground.  Aka Dark Horse (as he is known on the yard) will always be close to my heart and I appreciate very much what he has done for us.  Thank you for all your calls and congratulations everyone.

Red Not Blue and Bath Races

Red Not Blue:

Forgive me for not updating you all sooner on Red Not Blue’s last run.  I thought Red Not Blue ran a cracker at Market Rasen in a very competitive race (Class 2 Handicap Hurdle) and it seems that the jockey, Andrew Thornton, was right in that he is a very versatile horse regarding trip.

It was a great day, despite the long journey, with plenty of Red Not Blue’s loyal owners – ‘The Plums’ – being there.  It is always good fun going racing with The Plum Merchants as they are ‘up’ for the occasion and love to see their horses at the races. 

Yet again, another great get-together where we recounted the amusing stories after his last win on how some of them managed to get home – a fair bit later than planned…!  No names mentioned.

Red Not Blue will run again tomorrow at Worcester.

Bath Races:

                I watched a few races from Bath yesterday and I can’t say it made for good viewing.  Most of the horses were either hanging badly, had their heads in the air or were not striding out with any rhythm or fluency.  It was very clear that there were many hating the ground and they were having their arses smacked as well!  Should we be putting horses through this and running them on such hard ground…?

Pride of Racing Awards

On Thursday 14th July we had a rare afternoon away from the yard and went to The Betfair Pride of Racing Awards where we had a fantastic afternoon and evening at Epsom Racecourse.  Earlier this year I nominated Mr Gordon Giddings for a Pride of Racing Award for his dedication and enthusiasm to the breeding, training and owning of the thoroughbred.  As a jockey I knew Gordon’s name and his legacy and, since I have been training from Tytherington where we rent the yard from Gordon’s son, I have learnt so much more about his breeding operation and dedication to the sport and I felt he deserved a special award.  It was with great excitement that we travelled up to Epsom (incidentally Gordon had not been there before) to find out whether Gordon had indeed won an award. 

Proudly, most of the Giddings family came as well so there was a very lucky crowd of thirteen of us!  Mike Cattermole and Emma Spencer, in the presence of Princess Anne, hosted the awards and Gordon was thrilled to be introduced to Princess Anne on arrival.  Not their first meeting I might add as Gordon had been sent a mare by Princess Anne when he ran his stud enterprise, so there was a lot to talk about!  As I was watching the awards being given and knowing that there were only 6 awards and all 6 had been given out, I felt rather hollow that Gordon wouldn’t be getting an award but then Princess Anne took to the stage and it was announced that a very special award was being given – a lifetime achievement award. 

Our hearts pounded and indeed, Princess Anne awarded this very special award to an overwhelmed Gordon.  I have to say we were all rather emotional and I can assure you this award was richly deserved.  Below I have scanned in the article about Gordon, which appeared in the programme from the day and a few pictures from a memorable day.  Well-done Gordon!!

Mr & Mrs Gordon Giddings prior to the awards ceremony at Epsom Racecourse

Gordon Giddings receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award from HRH The Princess Royal

 

Gordon Giddings after receiving his award enjoying a glass of bubbly!

Incidentally I have been asked about Gordon’s stallions that he stood and just to include a few for interest:

New Member:      was the leading National Hunt sire for many seasons and sire of many top chasers including Henry Kissinger, which won the Mackeson Gold Cup. 

Dairialatan:            the sire of HM The Queen Mother’s Special Cargo which won The Whitbread Gold Cup.  He was also the sire of three Grand Military Gold Cup winners as well as the sire of many other National Hunt winners.

Impecunious:        (half brother to Busted).  Sired many winners including 2 Cheltenham festival winners.

Tudor Flame:        (half brother to Lanzarote)

Master Spiritus:  was the top eventing sire in the world for 10 years!

Welcome

Firstly I would like to welcome you to the Simon Earle Racing website and I hope you find it interesting. There are more items and photographs to add to make it 100% complete so do please keep coming back to see how we are doing.

I hope to update the diary section weekly with all the goings on at the yard; plus from time-to-time talk about my views on what is happening in the racing world.

Happy reading!

Simon