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