My apologies to Shilpa
for not mentioning her until now! On 10th
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….
.JPG)