Shilpa wins at Fakenham at 33-1

My apologies to Shilpa for not mentioning her until now!  On 10^th December we took Shilpa to Fakenham to run in a 2m handicap hurdle.  We were in search of better ground and didn’t find it.  But we thought it might be better there than anywhere else at the time and as we knew she wouldn’t harm herself, we thought we would give it a go after discussions with the owners.  We were looking for improvement in her but couldn’t say how she would handle conditions.

We hoped we had her right as she had worked 6 pounds ahead of the handicapper at home the previous week.  Under a very good ride by Gerard Tumelty she jumped to the front at the last and won at great odds of 33-1!

This was a very satisfying win as she had taken a bit of getting right and everyone at the yard had a hand to play in it.  The owners too, need a pat on the back for sticking with her and keeping faith, thank you to you all.

I travelled up to Fakenham the afternoon before, definitely a wise plan.  And I would like to say thank you to Fakenham for providing £7,500 in prize money and Betfair for giving the stable lad who led up the winner (me!) £25 – of which I gave to the girls who covered the yard back at home – and thank you to Betfair for providing the staff in the stable lads canteen with free food!  I did enjoy my full English breakfast in the morning after I gave her a canter around the track, as I was wet through.  Perhaps we will go back there again and the local beer, Wherry, is rather good too! 

It was great that John Powell, an owner and the man who runs the racing partnership, was able to be there (he said he did more than fill his pockets with cash from the bookies!) and I am sorry other members of the partnership were not there but it is a long way to go.  I would recommend a visit to the North Norfolk coast, as it is beautiful with great places to eat.  Fakenham as a racecourse often gets bad press as it is such a long way to go, but it is well worth the trip - even more so with a winner on board the lorry on the way home….  

Loxley Mezile

Loxley Mezile (or Poppy as she is known on the yard) had her first introduction to the racecourse on Tuesday at Lingfield in a 3yo junior bumper (luckily run on the all weather as the ground was very heavy).  Poppy travelled to the racecourse perfectly relaxed in the lorry and was very well behaved in the preliminaries – especially when there was a loose horse in the pre-parade ring!  Poppy turned her rear towards the loose horse and was in perfect range to double barrel but thankfully she politely refrained!

Gerard Tumelty rode her and gave her a lovely introduction.  He relaxed her out the back and then let her run on up the straight, which she did nicely.  She then got squeezed up on the rail and ran out of room.  We think she would have finished a lot closer with a clear run.

Being a 3yo filly, I was not hard on her at home and I would hope she improves a fair bit for this run.

Well done to Tracey Sloan and John Powell of EPDS Racing for finding such a nice filly – exciting times! 

Autumn to Winter

The clocks have now changed and it is the turn of the winter jumpers and to say goodbye to the summer and autumn.  It has been a fantastic summer if you are a horse as the ground has rarely been firm.  Looking at the results in The Racing Post daily, I am pleased to say I have never seen so few pull up or finish lame.  I cannot bear to see any horse break down and I just feel a lot of it can be avoided. 

It has also been a good summer for British sport away from racing – the Olympics, Tennis, Tour de France, Para-Olympics etc..  Some people have taken some sort of inspiration from it all.  When I was a jockey I would always look to an athlete for inspiration, now that I am a trainer I am looking at coaches and seeing what they are doing.  The stand out person here for me is David Brailsford, team principle of British Cycling and Team Sky of road cycling.  He is talked about as the greatest British coach ever and it is amazing what he has achieved.  I read the book – Sky’s The Limit – which is all about the time Dave started to set up a road racing team and 3 years later they have 1^st and 2^nd in The Tour de France!  He set out to win the Tour de France with a clean (i.e. drug free) British rider in 5 years – everybody thought he was mad and said it wasn’t possible!  It is interesting what you can learn from other sports and apply to your own.  I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in improvement!

The winter jump horses are bang on and due to run soon (first runner on Saturday at Wincanton with another diary entry to follow shortly on that race) and we are really pleased with them all; so we are hoping the horses will warm us up!  Frosty mornings are now back, so winter and the excitement of the National Hunt season truly begins… 

EPDS Racing yard visit

                   Last Saturday we welcomed EPDS Racing to the yard to see their horses.  It was a great opportunity for existing and new members to meet their horses, see the yard and have a chat.  The horses were in fine form and Shilpa and Poppy worked on the local all weather.  It was a super cold day but we braved the elements for the most beautiful day at the top of the gallops.  Please see some pictures and the great blog about the day from Tracey Sloan (link: http://epdsracing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/f-f-f-freezing-but-fun-yard-visit.html ).  I certainly enjoyed my pint afterwards with them at The Angel Coaching Inn!

Schooling Fences & Hurdles

Andy Ross and his friend, Tim Holt, came to re-stuff our fences for the new season and a very good job he has done too.  Andy works on the fences at a lot of the point-to-point courses in the West Country and has been well known for doing so for some time now.  He also told me about his successes as a Greyhound trainer and how he has managed to improve some of the dogs from other trainers.  After speaking with him I found out that there are similarities with the training of horses; he said he keeps his dogs happy and relaxed, varies their work, feeds them well, worms them regularly and takes close attention to their electrolyte levels.  Tim Holt also does racecourse photography so we look forward to some pictures of some winners in the West Country!

As you can see from the picture below, the open ditch is looking quite a lot better!  It is certainly an expensive job re-stuffing the fences as the birch costs £5 per bundle and I reckon each fence took over 70 bundles and that’s before we paid Mr Ross & Co for their couple of days’ work – I might well have to start working in the pub at nights!  It certainly is money well spent though, ironing out any jumping problems we might have at home and replicating what they will see on the track.

To contact Andrew Ross for your fences etc., please visit his website: www.racejumps.co.uk

The re-stuffed open ditch

Owners visit

Yesterday it was great to welcome James & Jane Symonds to the yard to see their horse, Fairwood Dante, work on the grass.  The ground was lovely, as we have had quite a bit of rain!  We are also lucky because if it doesn’t rain, we have a lovely place we try and only use in the summer, which has great old downland turf with moss in it, and it is always springy.

Fairwood Dante is back galloping and I am very pleased with him and he is settling great and moving well.  We are hopeful that we can give his sporting owners some fun during the winter. 

Dante (the dog!) on the left with James and Jane Symonds (and Merlin the black lab), coming to visit Fairwood Dante

We also had a lovely lunch at the Symonds’ last Sunday where I was lucky to sit opposite Toby Balding.  It was great to talk with him about the past and people we knew in common.  He has trained Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National winners plus Breeder’s Cup Chases (with Morley Street).  I could have spoken with him for hours.  I have great respect for the Baldings as I started life in racing as an apprentice with Toby’s brother Ian.   Although I was always going to go jumping, Sue Horton found me the job at Ian Balding’s flat yard when I was 14 and I can’t tell you how much I learnt there.

EPDS Racing visit to the yard

It was great to welcome John Powell and Tracey Sloan of EPDS Racing to the yard the other day to see their horses.  Sometimes it is good for owners to go and have a bit of quality time with them out in the paddock and this is a lovely picture below.

Tracey has a good eye for a horse and I am always interested to hear what she thinks of their horses as she might only see them once a month and so she notices any change.  I think she thought Homer Run had improved the most.  He has now put on good condition and top line and we felt that now was the time to start walking him after his summer break.  We are hoping that he will now improve as he has had time to strengthen up and forget about the stresses of being in hard work.  He gets on really well with the other horses in the field and has settled very well into his surroundings and the routine.  Don’t forget that there are shares available in this exciting young prospect and EPDS Racing can be contacted via John Powell on tel: 07812 342192 and their website is: www.epds-racing.co.uk .

Steve & Helen Newton also came to the yard to visit ‘Poppy’ whom they have a share in.  They have a retired racehorse of ours called Kavi who won on the flat, over hurdles and fences for Mr Robert Dacombe and the update is that Kavi is enjoying a wonderful and well deserved (barefoot!) retirement.  The picture below if of Poppy (right), Headly’s Bridge (middle) with Outside the Box (left).

Uttoxeter - another win for Red Not Blue with AP McCoy on board

                We had another great day courtesy of Red Not Blue at Uttoxeter on Wednesday, running this time over hurdles over 2m4f.  It was again 24hrs of predicting what the ground would be like and what weather we might get as the horse can be ground sensitive and mostly he wants good ground, but not too firm.  The day before the race the ground would have been too firm for him with a going stick reading of 8.2.  Then water was put on and in the morning of the race the ground was still called Good to Firm but with a going stick reading of 7.7 (the higher the reading the firmer the ground).  After a chat with Charlie Moore (the Clerk of The Course), it was decided that we would make the journey to the racecourse and if I wasn’t happy with the ground after walking the course then we would not run and bring him home.

                We unloaded Red Not Blue at the stables and it started to rain by which time the first race had been run and Tom Scudamore told me it was good to soft!  It continued to rain heavier and heavier so by the time of his race it was soft and there was nobody to be seen in the paddock – everyone was in the bar, apart from the diehards of The Plum Merchants!  It appeared the jockeys were also in the bar or hanging back in the weighing room to keep as dry as possible but last to leave was AP McCoy with The Plum Merchants’ colours on, which gave us some encouragement that he was coming into the paddock to ride, rather than his car to go home!  By this time I was totally uncomfortable by spending so much time so close to The Brigadier (Mr Brian Lewis) under his umbrella that I went to talk to McCoy.  The plan was hatched that it would be time to go hunting and not racing as the ground had deteriorated badly and all was left to the champion jockey to do what he felt best.  He brought him home beautifully in front – what a day!  The Racing Post said ‘Red Not Blue ran on very gamely’, this was his 9^th win.

Again I am very proud of Red Not Blue who I nicknamed ‘Dark Horse’ many years ago because I felt he had such great ability and would surprise us!  He has certainly done that and his two latest runs are arguably his best.  At the age of 9 that is no mean feat and we look forward to hopefully many more races and wins to come.  Thank you to all the staff at home for another great effort.

Winner at Worcester

                It was lovely to have a winner whilst we were away on holiday in Alderney for two weeks.  Holly Brown was in charge and it is great credit to her that everything went smoothly.  Holly has been working for us since December last year and she was previously head girl in an eventing yard before coming to us.  Credit must also go to Sam Goldsmith and Luke Kilgarriff plus Wally Irvine for doing the horse transport.

                Red Not Blue won his 8^th race and 2^nd Novice Chase on 21^st August over 2m7f at Worcester.  Unfortunately Andrew Thornton, who usually rides him, was out of action so AP McCoy (BBC Sports Personality of the year and Champion Jockey!) took over.  We spoke on the phone before the race and AP had already spoken with Andrew.  After the race, AP said he could have won and put the race to bed three fences from home when he was clear, but instead he looked after the horse over the last three fences and they headed him at the last and he still won by four lengths.  Some people think that McCoy wins on horses at all costs, but my experience of him is to the contrary; he looked after Red Not Blue and nursed him home.  Races are now in short supply for Red Not Blue both over hurdles and chases so we will see what happens next.  He came out of his race very well indeed.

Fairwood Dante

                It was great to welcome back Fairwood Dante to the yard this week.  He is owned locally by James & Jane Symonds.  We had him in training here before and he ran well in his bumpers and over hurdles.  He is a big, old-fashioned staying chaser type.

                James & Jane would love him to run in a Novice Chase at Wincanton, our local track, and hopefully on Badger Beer Day.  We all love Wincanton, as I went to Pony Club camp there many years ago with The South & West Wilts, and James and Jane have been going there for many years and will have plenty of friends there to have a drink or two with!  James is Chairman of The South & West Wilts point to point.

                Dante is a horse that was a little tense in his work when we last had him so Buffy, our vet, is going to come and check him out before we ride him to check him over for any aches and pains.  He will be trained from the field and will have plenty of loose trotting in the school before he is seen.  He has been very well prepared by his owners and we are all looking forward to having lots of fun with him this coming season.

Fairwood Dante

Horses back in training

                It is great that a few of the winter jumpers have come in to start their walking; this is a very important time conditioning their feet, legs and bodies so that they can do more later on.  Their feet are always trimmed well, even whilst on their break.  We have been lucky this summer with all the grass growth, so the horses are looking particularly well and have enjoyed their rest, which is good for them mentally. 

                Buffy, our vet, came the other day to do her pre-season check with them before they are ridden. I am finding that by sorting a few niggles now before they really get going, we can hopefully save the owner more money later in the season - prevention is much better than cure!

                Headly’s Bridge has really strengthened up and looks as if he has been doing weights in the gym when we were not looking!  And I am very pleased with Outside The Box, we are starting in a much better place now than we were last year, having learnt a hell of a lot about him last year, which was his first season with us.  I believe we can improve them both again.  Poppy also came back into work and has started walking.  She is owned by the EPDS Racing partnership and is an un-raced and un-named 3-year-old filly with shares available.  She has also really strengthened up for her break and is also barefoot, as are Headly and Outside The Box.

Red Not Blue wins first time over fences!

                Red Not Blue jumped very well and won his first chase very easily under a typically good ride from the master horseman, Andrew Thornton, at Hereford yesterday.

                When he got in close to his fences he shortened his stride well and was very nimble; when Andrew saw a nice stride he lengthened for him and pinged straight over.  It was a joy to watch although at the time I was a bit nervous!

                This was his 7^th win for us (I am aiming for 10) and he has raced in all his races without shoes.  Interestingly, at Hereford yesterday there were a few trainers and a farrier asking me about the barefoot thing.  The farrier said he had never seen thoroughbreds’ feet like it – he didn’t think it was possible and he was genuinely fascinated!  I am trying to get more people to do it as their horses will be sounder and hopefully win more races for them!  I hate seeing horses break down and I know there are things that we can do to reduce the number that do by improving foot angles.

                I guess we need a few more Red Not Blue’s to get the message out there, so people will talk more and maybe give it a go.

                 It has been a wonderful few weeks as we are delighted to welcome little (or not so little at 9 lbs 7 oz!) Mollie Joy Earle into our lives who was born on 16^th June.  Both Katie and Mollie are doing very well indeed and enjoyed watching Red Not Blue’s win from the sofa!

Two new horses arrive to the yard - one with shares available!

                We were delighted to welcome two new horses on Thursday:  Homer Run and Benozzo Gozzoli.

                Homer Run won last time out at Towcester in very game fashion.  He has had 17 runs and been placed in the first four nine times, and in his last 5 runs he has come 1^st twice, 2^nd once and 3^rd twice – not a bad effort!  He is still only a 5 yr old and looking at him it does appear there is more improvement to come; as he needs to strengthen up and mature a bit and still looks a little weak. 

                We plan to give him one more run before he has his summer break.  He may run at Hexham this coming Saturday, then he will be turned out and have his shoes off.  We will be planning to run him next season without shoes.

                There are shares available in this lovely prospect, which we know is tough, genuine, sound and has proven ability.  It is also a chance to be a part of the very friendly syndicate called EPDS Racing.  The syndicate is run by John Powell and Tracy Sloan who always put their horses’ well-being first; and will stop at nothing to ensure that happens.  Please make contact with either John Powell direct or we can forward your details on to John.  It is a great fun team with excellent opportunities for affordable racehorse ownership.  EPDS Racing’s details are: www.epds-racing.co.uk and John Powell can be contacted on: 07812 342192

                John Powell also bought Benozzo Gozzoli, who is named after the great Italian artist who plied his trade in the fourteen hundreds.  John only started riding earlier this year and has bought Benozzo to ride in a charity race at Newmarket in August.  Ben is in training and John will be coming down regularly to ride him here at home and we will help him as much as we can.  John has already passed the test at The British Racing School in Newmarket under the watchful eye of ex-top jockey, Steve Smith-Eccles.  We are all very much looking forward to August!  Benozzo is a lovely looking and well-behaved horse that we also like a lot.

Homer Run

Benozzo Gozzoli

Clare MacLeod MSc RNutr

Sometimes you have to give things time to see if they really have worked, hence not writing about this before now! 

For quite a while before last winter, we had been having muscle problems with the horses and it had held them up quite a bit, especially at the start of the National Hunt season.  I also hear it is becoming more of a problem, especially in racing.  We were getting muscle enzyme readings coming back on blood tests that were far too high and I had known things were not right.  Finally our vet, Buffy Shirley-Beavan whom we had just moved to, said it was probably caused by a mineral imbalance (she was the first person to come up with this after a very long time seeking advice and getting nowhere from other vets, feed companies, haylage analyses, water analyses etc.).  I can’t tell you how long I had spent looking into absolutely everything and analysing everything that went into their mouths, including the water.  We nearly spent £12,000 on a water filter for them! 

In the end, knowing it was a mineral imbalance but not how/what was causing it, Tracey Sloan (part of EPDS racing), mentioned Clare MacLeod to me who is an Independent Equine Nutritionist.  We had met Clare many years ago and boy I wish we had her advice a few years earlier.  Clare is a qualified expert on equine fitness and nutrition and is completely independent so she has no bias towards a certain feed company.  To have knowledge of both the physical side of exercise and nutrition has to be a major plus as the two go side by side. 

Since Clare came to see us and suggested the changes to their diets, all the horses have improved and muscle enzymes returned to normal.  I am often in contact with her about any individual requirements.  Clare is not frightened to tell you what she thinks, which is what you want and I had to trust her and take a jump and do some things that other people have said to me not to do.  Thankfully all was sorted very soon after Clare came last autumn and finally I feel we can write about it. 

We are feeding high fibre, high oil and controlling the amount of starch they are getting.  We have also noticed that the horses’ feet have improved and so too have their skin and general condition and well being.  I can’t recommend Clare highly enough for anyone experiencing any nutrition/fitness/muscle problems with their horse.  Please see her website for more details: www.equinenutritionist.co.uk   

Where are they now?

                We retired two horses last season (Bemused & Chord) and sometimes get enquiries as to where they have gone, so we thought you would like to see the ex-racehorses in their new homes/careers.  Their new owners have updated us recently and it is really important to me that I know where they are and what they are up to.  I love to hear about their progress and to keep in touch with the owners.  It is so important to make sure they are all going to a good home and preferably a home for life.  We owe these horses so much so it is very important they continue to be well looked after and happy.

                Below is a lovely email from Bemused’s new owner: Kate.  Kate intends on bringing Bemused on and possibly eventing him but mainly took him on so she can hack out with her children, hunt etc., and she was very interested in taking on a barefoot ex-racehorse for the first time.

Dear Simon,

Well, he’s no longer called Bemused, but has been rechristened Bertie The Beloved.  As his new name suggests, Bertie the Beloved has exceeded expectations in every way possible.

Most importantly, his temperament is unbeatable.  Whether it be handling him daily, which is nothing but a pleasure, teaching him new things where his attitude and quick brain make learning a doddle (that said I’m sure he could learn naughty tricks if he wanted to but he hasn’t shown any propensity for that yet), or being whinnied at several times a day, just to say hi, his temperament is the best I’ve ever come across in a horse.  His movement is far better than I realised when I came to try him, my pro-event rider chiropractor was green with envy when he met him.  Keen to learn more about classical dressage, I’m keen to get the basics in his schooling correct before pushing him on to other things.  Because he’s such a trier, I think he could get pent up with worry if I were to rush him so I think Bertie is really enjoying this approach, and my jump saddle fitter hasn’t yet been out to fit it to him.  So, I don’t yet have any exciting jumping photos to show you but they will come in due course.  I am confident that jumping will be a breeze, I’ve always found jumping a lot easier than dressage so tend to put my effort into that predominantly.  I cannot thank you enough and give your training methods enough credit because, having taken on so many racehorses in the past, Bertie really isn’t like a racehorse but rather like a riding horse who has experienced a more varied training.  With a bit of luck I won’t be wanting another horse for a long time, but when I do, I hope you don’t mind if you are my first port of call!

With many many thanks as ever,

Kate & The Beloved

Bertie being ridden by Kate, his new owner

                Chord was also retired and he went to one of his syndicate members (The Plum Merchants) in the capable hands of Simon & Janine Owen.  He settled in brilliantly with his best friend over the winter, whom I don’t joke is called mini-Chord (and is a pony stallion!).  He and his owner look very happy having jumping lessons! And it is Simon’s aim to hunt him next season.

Chord with (and I couldn't work out if it was Harvey Smith or AP McCoy on a stylish day on board, then I realised it was the great...) Simon Owen!

 Chord with his new pal, mini-Chord

Thank you to Kate, and Simon & Janine, for keeping us posted on their progress and do keep the photos coming in.  Good luck in your new careers boys!

Snowy Valley & Starlight Secret

                We ran Snowy Valley and Starlight Secret for their first run last Tuesday at Kempton over 6f.  We were very pleased with them in what was a reasonable maiden.  Both horses ran barefoot.

                They were in training as 2 yr olds with us and we got them ¾ of the way to racing and then turned them out.  That was as much as we wanted to do with them, as they were just too immature to run.  It is now thought that a degree of training of youngsters can help them later – with tendons, ligaments etc., of which I agree with so long as things aren’t taken too far and you know not to do too much.

                The two boys looked great and behaved impeccably, with Snowy not even needing to be led into the stalls but just walking in!  I was worried that they would be completely outpaced, as they both were not tuned up for this race at all.  Starlight weakened from being bang there 1f out but he got tired and Snowy ran on from being well last turning in and ended up finishing best of all, running on in the closing stages very nicely past horses.  They will both improve and I would love to think we could get the owner’s colours in the winners’ enclosure.  Snowy has a lovely full brother in the paddock that looks just like him plus he has a half sister by Norse Dancer.  It certainly would be good to put some value on them when Snowy does well.

                Both horses came out of the race well and have eaten up so all in all it was a good and happy experience for them.

Snowy Valley pre-race

Starlight Secret post race

Happy owner & happy jockey post race!

Happy owner & happy horse post race

The above photographs were kindly taken by Ben Thompson of Littleton Stud (from where Snowy Valley was brought up).  Please take a look at Ben's website as there are some truly wonderful shots on there:  www.studphotography.com

Luke Kilgarriff

                Well another of our riders does well!  Luke finished 2^nd on Wednesday on Best Bette at Southwell, to Tony McCoy who won on Wild Rhubarb.  A few months ago I phoned the trainer Clarissa Caroe to see if Luke could ride one for her, to no avail a couple of months back, but a while later she didn’t forget and asked Luke to ride Best Bette at Stratford in a Hunter Chase.  The horse ran well and she was pleased with the performance so he kept the ride.  On Wednesday he rode a very good race and looked like winning at one stage but Wild Rhubarb was just that bit better under Tony McCoy. 

                We shall sit down and have a look at the race and see if there is anything that can be improved.  We discussed a lot about when he rode the horse at Stratford and there is no doubt that Luke has been thinking about it and putting the thoughts into action.  The horse is a real tryer and jumps well so he is very lucky to have the ride and it is just what he wants – having this will improve his confidence no end.  Well-done Luke.

                I used to ride for Clarissa many years ago and she is a really lovely lady and was great to ride for.  She also appeared on Mastermind a few years back now and I seem to remember she didn’t do too badly; very unusual for a racehorse trainer to be such an intellect!

Luke Kilgarriff on the yard

Sam Goldsmith - Charity Race at Larkhill

                I have just watched the video of a member of our staff, Sam Goldsmith, riding her horse ‘Biscuit’ to win the charity race for The Wiltshire Air Ambulance at the South & West Wilts point-to-point at Larkhill racecourse. 

Sam has worked for us for a few years now as well as studying Biomedicine at Reading University where she is in her 2^nd year.  Her riding has improved a great deal since she has been with us and in the race she certainly looked like she had done it before but in fact, it was her first ride in a race.  I remember my first ride and I was a complete passenger and was no use to the horse at all!

As is so often the case at Larkhill, they go off too quick and then stop in front and it is the ones who have taken their time that come through and win – and that is exactly what Sam did!  One wonders if you are born with a good judge of pace or if you learn and I suspect it is more of the former. 

Well I will lay claim to training the jockey a bit but what Sam and Gillian, her mother, have done with the horse since I saw him soon after they bought him as a 2 yr old is to be commended.  When you look at a young underdeveloped horse it is so much guesswork to know how it will look when fully grown and I can see they have done it all right.  Biscuit was completely jaded, hated everything and everybody – probably because he was being asked to do things in his life that he was not ready for at 2 years old and possibly in a big yard where nobody cared or particularly liked him.  He has grown into a really nice looking horse with a much better attitude and now wants to please.  Again, I have said it before, but if you are patient and do what is right for your horse then they will return the compliment in buckets and spades and make you happy!  Well done Sam and a great little write up in the House & Hound to boot!

Proud of Red Not Blue

                We had a very eventful day at Cheltenham with Red Not Blue running a personal best at the age of nine to finish a closing 2^nd in the £16,000 Class 2 Handicap Hurdle after being off the course for 158 days.  Another one who doesn’t wear shoes.

                He is at his best on good ground and the rain came and turned it to soft so I thought our chance was gone, but I knew he wouldn’t come to any harm and that Andrew Thornton can take him round, look after him and probably finish out the back and the handicapper can drop him a few pounds!  Luckily, as so often is the case the owners, The Plum Merchants tend to take no notice of me and all piled on at 40-1 each way and cleaned up – and the handicapper has put us up 2 lb to 132!

                I was so proud of the horse and loved him for trying so hard.  He and everyone involved deserve to win a big one like that – we got close and we are going to try and get closer in the coming weeks – I just wish he were 6!

Red Not Blue relaxing in the paddock

Headly's Bridge - 2nd @ Chepstow

                Headly’s Bridge ran a cracker again to finish 2^nd at Chepstow last Saturday in a 0-115 handicap hurdle over 2m.  I felt we were quite unlucky.  We have to tuck him out the back early on in his races, as he tends to be over exuberant.  I think the more racing he has the better he will settle and hopefully then we will be able to ride him more prominently.

                He was completely boxed in on the home turn and couldn’t progress forward as we would have liked.  The winner stole a few lengths on us before we got going and we were gaining a lot at the finish.  Overall I am delighted that we have a lovely horse that is only 6 yrs old and has a lovely future ahead of him.  I know there is plenty more to come plus he wouldn’t go left handed when he ran in Ireland so that is one obstacle we’ve overcome as well with Chepstow being left handed.

Cheltenham and work yesterday

                Next Wednesday 18^th April, it is the Brightwells select sale at Cheltenham racecourse, commencing after racing at 6.30pm.  There are plenty of decent horses in this sale with form, Irish Point-to-Point form, National Hunt flat form etc.  There have been plenty of top class jumpers that come out of this sale and I would love to go there and purchase one for someone!  It is billed as the most prestigious sale of the year and horses from this sale consistently produce impressive results on the track with multiple graded winners and the highest strike rate of Winners from Runners of any National Hunt sale.

                We are likely to be there that day with Red Not Blue who is hopefully running, so if you are interested in attending the sale, do come and enjoy a day at the races and I would be more than happy to have a look at some horses in the evening.  Please ring me on 07850 350116.

                Mrs Penelope Bridel came to see her horse, Headly’s Bridge, do some grid work yesterday and all went well.  He has had 4 runs for us – one 2^nd and one 1^st and we are really glad the rain has come!

Opera Prince (left) with Sam Goldsmith riding and Headly's Bridge (right) with Holly Brown riding and his owner, Mrs Penelope Bridel

                Raul Da Silva, who works for Jeremy Gask as his flat jockey, galloped Snowy Valley over 5 furlongs yesterday.  He liked the horse very much and said how well behaved and balanced he was.  We are hoping he will be running soon with Raul on board.  I like using a local jockey where I can, plus it always helps with un-raced horses that the jockey gets to know them at home.

Snowy Valley being ridden by Raul Da Silva (left) and Starlight Secret being ridden by amateur Luke Kilgarriff (right)

Happy Days

                Happy Days…and I’m talking from a horse’s point of view! The horses have been out enjoying the warmer weather without their rugs on, nothing like soaking up a good bit of Vitamin D!

                It was great the other day to turn out the two flat 3 yr olds, who are not that far off running.  One is by Three Valleys (Snowy Valley) and the other by Exceed and Excel (Starlight Secret).  They both got on very well with the older jumpers straight away.  Red Not Blue was the boss of the herd but now the 3 yr old Snowy Valley has taken over.  He claimed his authority without any fuss - just a bit of sign language!

                One thing Monty Roberts said to me when he visited a few years back, was observe your horses as much as you can out in the paddock and it is amazing what you can see and learn about each one.  It certainly is true and the herd mentality is fascinating.  We are very lucky that we have the opportunity to allow the horses to be horses for a few hours each day during their rigorous training regime; it certainly helps them relax and be themselves.

                The pecking order of the herd certainly changes from time to time and I have had horses at the bottom of the herd, they start running well or winning and you can see that they get more confidence from this and move up a place or two.  Since Headly’s Bridge won, there has definitely been a change in him out there.  He is much less of a push over to the horses above him.

                Introducing younger horses can bring more interaction as they tend to like to play more and I have been seeing Red Not Blue playing with the Exceed & Excel 3 year old, Starlight Secret.  They play with their heads and rear a bit at each other, all good harmless fun and they use and stretch different muscles that they normally wouldn’t.

Outside The Box on the right, with the two 3 yr olds

The two 3 year olds meeting Opera Prince (on the right)

From left to right: Starlight Secret, Snowy Valley and Red Not Blue

Headly's Bridge

Headly's Bridge wins at Towcester

                Headly’s Bridge won at Towcester last Thursday by a nose – he was given a fantastic ride by Gerard Tumelty to get up on the line.  It was Gerard who persuaded us to run, as he was running off his old handicap mark and in future races would be carrying 6lbs more.

                He was running only 6 days after his good 2^nd at Wincanton.  I am not a huge fan of running horses so quick, especially over jumps, as it can be deceptive as to how well they are after their previous race.  But the thing I find most important is to look at the horse immediately after their race and Headly’s head was up, he was bright and alert and recovered really quickly.  In fact he had stopped blowing soon after getting back to the racecourse stables.  He also hadn’t had far to travel being only half an hour down the road.   You will see as happens every year horses will run well below form at Aintree after winning or running well at Cheltenham only a few weeks previously.  They appear well at home but this can be deceptive as it is the race that has given them a ‘buzz’.

                It is worth mentioning (as the racing press don’t seem to notice anymore!) that Headly ran without shoes again and I can’t tell you what a difference this makes.  We currently only have one horse in the yard with shoes and he will go barefoot when he has a break.  It was a great result for owner Penelope Bridel who has been a star owner and she deserves many more wins, which I think will come, as I believe this is the start of things to come with this horse!

Headly's Bridge - 2nd @ Wincanton

                Last week ended particularly well with Headly’s Bridge finishing 2^nd at Wincanton (at 40-1!), to show huge improvement.  We noticed when he last ran that something might have been bothering him and that he may not have been totally comfortable in himself, so we asked Buffy Shirley-Beaven to come in and she has sorted him out.  Whilst it is always a number of things that improves a horse, certainly what Buffy did helped enormously.  He, once again, ran without shoes and the jockey, Gerard Tumelty, said he felt so much better moving to the start and was more fluid in his action.

                The race wasn’t run to suit him and Gerard said if they had gone quicker early on he would have won.  They were all together round the home turn and Headly and the winner sprinted up the straight finishing 11 lengths clear of the rest.  We feel that he will improve more and that this is only the start of things to come. 

                It was such a good day as Headly’s owner, Mrs Penelope Bridel, was there with her daughters – Jo and Lizzie - and cousin David Bridel.  It was so satisfying at last to have a nice horse run a good race for her.  There is no one who deserves it more and she has been very patient with Headly.  I’ve said it before - if you are patient and do what’s best for the horse then eventually they will repay you!

 Headly's Bridge

Headly's Bridge

Outside The Box

                It was great to see Outside The Box run a good race again to finish 2^nd at Folkestone last Wednesday.  He is settling in his races much better and didn’t put a foot wrong over the hurdles.  This season has been all about teaching him to settle, to run without hanging or jumping to the right, all of which he used to do in the past.  We are aiming to get this right over hurdles this season before progressing to fences next year.  Whilst two 2^nd places aren’t like two 1^st places, having a horse run consistently is key.  We think he will be much better next season when he runs in 3-mile chases!

                I apologise for the lapse in the diary and we have lots to update you on and I hope to get more diary entries up in the coming weeks.

Shilpa & Opera Prince

We had a good schooling session last Tuesday with Luke Kilgarriff on Shilpa and Holly Brown on Opera Prince.  We are now lucky to have good riders who sit still and let the horses make their own mistakes; in fact I can’t remember one of them making a mistake!  Shilpa was just getting her eye in before hopefully running last week at Ludlow but sadly it was called off because of the weather.  It was a real shame as she was top rated on the Racing Post ratings and we were hoping she would improve for her very good first run for us.  Shilpa didn’t get to run at Weatherby on Saturday due to the weather, and will be entered up this week as well when hopefully the weather improves.

                Opera Prince was having his 4^th piece of grid work and he was much improved with Holly on board (who comes from an eventing background).  After running over 2m in a muddling sort of race, which wouldn’t have suited him at Kempton last week, we have decided to send him hurdling.

 Shilpa being schooled by Luke Kilgarriff

Opera Prince being schooled by Holly Brown

Outside The Box - 2nd

Outside The Box (Bobby as he is known on the yard) ran a great race to finish 2^nd in the 0-110 2m4 ½ f handicap hurdle race at Leicester yesterday.  It was a great relief to see him jump well and in a straight line and run with some enthusiasm again.  It has been a long road with him - we have totally re-schooled the horse and done plenty of work without anybody on his back, getting him to drop his head and learn to use himself properly.  His owner, Bridget O’Flynn, has always been totally behind the horse and is up for doing what is best for him.  She has bought him his own, specially fitted saddle which is one of the things that has helped significantly as he is an unusual shape along his back.  He is also without shoes that I am sure help him in many ways. I am hoping now that the patience and hard work will pay off.

It normally happens in that if you have patience and do what is best for the horse, they seem to repay you.  I have always thought the world of Bobby and it feels like having a winner in that we have seen a huge improvement from his first run for us and I know there is much more to come!  It was such gruelling conditions for him yesterday and we couldn’t be more proud of the effort he put in – such a genuine and honest horse who would literally go to battle for you.

Racing Post comments from his run yesterday: “Outside The Box stayed on best, and was clear of the third.  This should put him spot on for his next run, which could be over further”

Whip Rules

Jockeys had a meeting with the BHA on Friday regarding the whip rules and I hope the BHA doesn’t change anything.  I personally do not think they want to bring in more stewards discretion, as that will mean grey areas that we don’t want, it needs to be black and white and a set amount of hits and the firm penalties if you go over.

In my 14-year career as a jockey, I was done once for using my stick too much, when I was beaten a short head at Cheltenham.  I knew before the winning post that I would get done and the consequences of my actions, it was not difficult to work out.

To me the penalties are perhaps not harsh enough, for example yesterday at Ascot on Channel 4 racing (which goes out to a wide audience of which racing is trying to attract), Andrew Thornton rides a fantastic race to win on Tatenen.  Katie and I were cheering him on as he deserves it more than anyone but unfortunately he went over the limit for hitting the horse.  Andrew rides a lot for us and we love having him on board and there is nobody shrewder out there and this is nothing against him at all. But, as jockey’s do, he knew immediately after the race when talking to Alice Plunkett that he had gone over.  I suppose going into the race, which would most jockeys choose – maybe finish 2^nd (and I say maybe because it is not proven if the stick actually makes a horse go faster or not) or go over the hit limit and win this big race on TV which is going to do a great deal of good for your career (plus it is for a big owner and if you win for him you may be asked to ride some of his other good horses even at The Cheltenham Festival??) and pick up a 5 day ban – I think I would choose the latter.

Situations will always arise unless the rules are black and white with very harsh penalties, or the whip is banned completely, apart from only being allowed to use the stick with both hands on the rein (slapping down the neck). 

I don’t think the stick should be allowed for corrective measures because again that will bring in grey areas and to keep a horse straight, the best thing is to keep both hands on the reins.  As soon as you take one hand off the rein to hit the horse, it has gone.  I can show you many examples of horses running straight until they are hit.

With Cheltenham coming up there will be jockeys breaking the whip rules because they still have more to gain for themselves and connections by winning and breaking the rules than losing and staying within them.