Homer Run wins again plus solid runs by Headly's Bridge:

It is great news for the owners of Homer Run (EPDS Racing) that he managed to follow up with another win. This time at Uttoxeter in a 0-100 2m4f handicap hurdle on heavy ground.  It was a really game effort as he managed to beat a horse that was well in in the weights and it was 16 lengths back to 3^rd.  Unfortunately he has been clobbered by the handicapper who has put him up 10lbs – so that is 16lbs for two wins.  This includes being put up by the handicapper by 1lb for being stood in his stable because a couple of horses he beat 1^st time out have done well after.  This I think is totally wrong and something I wish to bring up at the next NTF meeting!

Homer has come out of his race well and he will be having a grid work session this week with poles higher and wider with a view to him going chasing.  His handicap mark over hurdles is now 108.

Homer Run with connections - EPDS Racing Partnership 3 - after his win at Uttoxeter

Headly’s Bridge ran well to finish 3^rd in a class 3 0-135 handicap hurdle at Exeter where he was not beaten far.  The winner was put up 8lbs, the second nothing but the lovely handicapper has put up Headly 1lb for coming 3^rd to a mark of 116 which means that we can’t run in the 0-115 that we were aiming for at Exeter in January.   I would love to know why he has done that so an email is off to the handicapper shortly!  Headly has always suffered by the handicapper and has effectively been stopped from winning since his last win at Towcester in March last year.  Since then he has run 11 times and been in the first 3, six times.  He is penalized for consistency and running well and there is no doubt that if he hadn’t finished in the first three all those times then he would have won by now!

We were therefore forced to run Headly a week after his Exeter run at Leicester last Friday in another class 3 0-125 handicap hurdle over 2m.  He finished an admirable 2^nd to a very well handicapped horse who had dropped over 10lbs so again was well in.

We are delighted that the horses have been running well and coming back for more but I don’t like it when a horse keeps going up the handicap without winning.  Hopefully Headly will have his chance soon.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish everyone a successful 2014 and a Happy New Year.  Pictures below of the horses enjoying their Christmas stockings courtesy of Brian Hargie and Rosie Malley that included carrots, apples and herbal treats!

Get Back To Me & Zakatal

Red Not Blue licking his lips!

Royal Signaller

An update - Already Basking & Red Not Blue

                 

We ran Already Basking (Biscuit) at our local track, Wincanton on 5^th December in a maiden hurdle over 2m with Andrew Thornton riding.  It was his second run for us and he was quoted in the racecard at 500-1!  Things worked out very well for Biscuit and he disputed the lead for most of the way and looked like he might get a place until he got a little tired between the last few hurdles.  It was like having a winner as it proved to us that he can win races, plus he tried and enjoyed himself.  Before he came to us he had raced on the flat and he showed no willingness to race at all.  This was a much better performance and we were all very pleased with his progression.

Red Not Blue put in another cracker in the Class 2 Citipost handicap hurdle at Cheltenham over 3m on 13^th December to be beaten 8 lengths by Sunnyhillboy (who was beaten a short head in The Grand National).  They went no gallop at all, which really didn’t suit him and turned it into a sprint up the hill but he still finished to some effect.  I think if they went a good gallop he might have gone very close indeed.  It was a good day as The Plum Merchants take a box at Cheltenham so another great day out for all.

The Plum Merchants enjoying themselves in the paddock at Cheltenham with Dominic Elsworth

Winner!! Homer Run wins @ Southwell. Red Not Blue comes 3rd at Newbury

                 

I’ll start with Red Not Blue – well we did exactly what Paddy Brennan suggested after he rode Red Not Blue at Cheltenham in November which was that he should be aimed at The Festival in March possibly in the Pertemps.  So we ran him in a Pertemps Series Qualifier at Newbury over 3m last Friday.  The race was according to The Racing Post ‘the hottest qualifier yet’.  The rules have changed this year and he had to finish in the first eight to qualify for March which I felt would be a big ask considering how many runners there were and how competitive the race was.   Well, he came from the back with a storming run under Dominic Elsworth to finish 3^rd at a price of 66-1 (proving Paddy spot on!).  The Racing Post said ‘Red Not Blue ran on in dour fashion’ and when I saw Paddy at Southwell on Tuesday his words were ‘Red Not Blue is a real dude!’.   Red Not Blue runs without shoes.

And now on to even better news of Homer Run winning at Southwell on Tuesday (without shoes).  After Homer Run ran at Uttoxeter in June this year, he finished a bit jarred up; he was running and training with shoes on at that time, as we couldn’t get him to go barefoot.  I think he couldn’t go barefoot at the time because sometime before this he had stomach ulcers.  Since we have sorted the ulcers out and given him time and a break in the summer, he has taken to barefoot without any problems and his feet are now very tough.  We were really happy with Homer Run at home so I was hopeful (so long as I could persuade EPDS Racing to make the trip to Southwell).  We were very lucky that it paid off with Homer winning, being given a great ride by Paddy Brennan.  Homer’s price tumbled before the off which wasn’t our money as we are not a gambling yard, although John Powell of EPDS racing had a huge wad of cash when paying for the drinks after the race!

            I am very grateful to the owners for being patient with this horse and many thanks to everybody for your kind messages of well done and thank yous.  We are lucky to have a good little team down here but ultimately it is the horses that we have to thank.  Hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season as we have a few new horses yet to arrive.

An update: Cheltenham, EPDS, Zakatal

           We were extremely pleased with Red Not Blue who ran at Cheltenham on Saturday over 3m1f.  We all thought that he would struggle as the ground was ‘dead’ and tiring; coupled with the fact that it was a big field which he doesn’t have a great record of running well in.  Saturday’s race was a Class 1 Listed race, which meant that he was up against some of the best staying handicappers in the country.  Paddy Brennan gave him a lovely ride from the back, and Red Not Blue ran on past horses right to the line.  Paddy reported that he was too good for a summer horse and that we should run him at The Cheltenham Festival in March!  Dreams are still alive for us all!

           This week has been all about owners coming to see their horses.  John Powell who runs EPDS Racing came to see all the EPDS horses on Monday (Loxley Mezile, Homer Run and Money Maid) as well as his own horse Benozzo Gozzoli.  He came with his friend, Christina, who was visiting from Canada and she seemed quite comfortable with the horses, as you can see from this photo below. Homer Run was having a morning of doing some grid work and is pictured here being ridden by Hannah Gay. 

Homer Run

David Furman came down from Yorkshire on Tuesday to see his horse Zakatal do some flat work in the indoor school.  The horse hasn’t been with us long and has been doing really well in this type of work as we have been trying to get him to use himself differently and Zak has been very willing.  However, on Tuesday he was not doing what I was asking him to do and we had to stop and didn't even attempt to canter.  Luckily David had brought with him his cranial-sacral therapist – Fiona Varian.  We stopped work with Zak, popped him back in his box and Fiona gave him a lengthy treatment.  The boys in the meantime went to the pub and left her treating Zak for a couple of hours.  We then took Zak back to the indoor school and tried him again.  He was totally different and much more willing and dropped his head lovely.  Definitely down to the practitioner and not the fact that the rider had had a pint of Guinness in the pub!  Beccy Smith also came down yesterday from Brough, up near Hull, to fit Zak his new saddle.  This is fantastic for Zak as hopefully he can build up his back muscles properly with a saddle that is made to measure for him. 

                Lastly, Gillian Goldsmith popped by to visit her horse Already Basking and she is very excited about him running.  And Mrs Bridel came by last night to visit Headly’s Bridge and she is also looking forward to him running again soon. 

New Horse - Already Basking

I am delighted to welcome a new horse ‘Already Basking’ (aka Biscuit) to the yard.  Biscuit is owned by Gillian Goldsmith, whose husband John is Managing Director of the well-known Aston Martin Classic Car Racing and Restoration Company Goldsmith and Young Ltd (www.goldsmithandyoung.com) based in Mere, Wiltshire.

Gillian Goldsmith was the first ladies National Hunt Champion jockey in 1976 riding Bill Counsell's ‘Stanhope Street’, having previously had a very successful point to point season riding Tim Frost’s ‘Prince Rock’.  In the early 70s she was also a works race driver for the Ford Motor Company and is currently a race car instructor teaching up and coming racing drivers at circuits such as Thruxton & Goodwood.  Occasionally John allows her to co drive one of his racing Astons!  You can see Gillian in action on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPrzjTQQObk with her single seater 1968 Cooper Daimler at Shelsley Walsh.

Gillian bought ‘Already Basking’ as a two year old colt off the flat.  He was not enjoying life and was not trying very hard in his races.  Gillian and her daughter Samantha have done an impressive job  by hacking and hunting the horse around the local countryside and the horses’ response encouraged them to enter Biscuit in a local charity race with Sam on board which she won. 

The current plan is for Sam to ride the horse in an amateur hurdle race after an initial race somewhere very soon.  Whilst he has not been with us long because Gillian and Sam have done most of the build-up work, we are pleased with him so far and cautiously optimistic.  The intention is to see how things go without putting him under too much pressure too soon.

We wish the Goldsmiths the very best of luck with Biscuit.  In the meantime here is a video of him schooling with Red Not Blue supplied courtesy of Clemency Dent.

Already Basking schooling with Red Not Blue and being ridden by Miss Alice Mills

Already Basking

Headly's Bridge - 3rd at Kempton

We were very pleased with Mrs Penelope Bridel’s horse, Headly’s Bridge, finishing 3^rd over hurdles first time out this winter at Kempton on Monday.  It was most pleasing because we thought he was well short of peak fitness.  Conditional jockey Ryan Hatch gave him a lovely ride, he cruised into the race to hit the front two hurdles out before blowing up.

He has returned home fine and we look forward to his next run at Chepstow in a few weeks time.  Penelope is a very special owner as she has been a great supporter of the yard for a long time.  She was very pleased and it bodes well for the coming winter season. 

Headly’s Bridge is trained and runs without shoes which helps him enormously - we will hope we can keep it that way for the rest of the season.

New horse, Zakatal, arrives to the yard

I would like to welcome a new horse to the yard, Zakatal, along with new owners David Furman & John Sugarman.  Zakatal (aka Zac) arrived to the yard last Saturday from Yorkshire. 

Zac was bred by His Highness The Aga Khan, I have always liked Aga Khan bred horses.  He first ran in France, winning on the flat, and was subsequently owned by Terry Warner (who owned Rooster Booster and Detroit City) and for whom he won a maiden hurdle at Newton Abbot. Zac is also a lovely grey who reminds me somewhat of the grey I used to ride and train – Dextra Dove.

Zac has been a very consistent horse that has rarely been out of the money on the flat or over hurdles and he is currently rated 80 on the flat and 119 over hurdles.

The owners have done a lot of rehabilitation with him and have left no stone unturned in getting him right.  He has arrived in superb condition.  All David & Gill Furman’s horses are barefoot at home and they are keen to keep Zac without shoes if possible.  His feet look very good, his soles are quite tough so we are hoping we can keep going barefoot.  You can see from the photograph below that the weight-bearing heels are back where they should be to the widest part of the frog.  The frog is healthy and the foot has been trimmed and conditioned well. If every horse arrived in the yard with feet like Zacs it would make my life and the horses a lot easier and will definitely help him in so many ways.

The plan is to bring him on steadily and I will try and continue the good work the owners have done with him!

Zakatal

Galloping Horses: Headly's Bridge & Already Basking

Below we have some nice shots of the horses working yesterday on the grass gallops.  We have Headly’s Bridge (bay) in front, with the chestnut Already Basking (aka Biscuit) in behind.  We will introduce Already Basking to you properly at a later date.

Both the horses are working well with lovely head carriages, which will keep them strong through their backs.  Sam Goldsmith is riding Already Basking.  Many will remember Sam, who used to work for us and has now finished her degree at Reading University.  Sam has worked over the summer for Ralph Beckett and is now working for Andrew Balding.  Sam has an amateur licence and is very much hoping to becoming a jockey.  She is certainly in the right place and I am very pleased for her as Kingsclere is where I had my first job in racing and I would hope, that if she does her work well, she would be given every chance.  Both horses worked well and I'm pleased with them.

Headly's Bridge & Already Basking warming up

EPDS Racing - members visit

We welcomed the EPDS Racing syndicate to the yard on Saturday, 5^th October and it was great to see everyone and meet new members.  We organised for two horses to have their first schooling session over poles – Money Maid (aka Rosie) who is owned by EPDS Racing and our just broken in four yr old, Water Rail (aka Jem).

I’m not against showing owners their horse when they do grid work for the first time, as it can be a bit hit and miss, hopefully when they come back again they can see the improvement.  Money Maid was in fact foot perfect and a natural in shortening her stride and arching her back.  She just tended to over-bend a bit so we will school her next time without the rubber rein on.  She enjoyed it so much, it gave her real confidence and Tracey Sloan from EPDS managed to get a fabulous video of her being turned out in the paddock afterwards - as you can see, she is very pleased with herself!  I couldn't help but go to bed that night quite excited about her future.  It is worth noting that shares are still available in this exciting NH prospect.  Money Maid won her point to point by 25 lengths in Ireland.  She is only 5 yrs old and comes from an excellent family with her grand-dam (Maid of Money) winning the Irish Grand National by 10 lengths, amongst other top class Listed races.  Beating horses in her career like Waterloo Boy and Carvill’s Hill.  Below are Money Maid’s video links to YouTube taken by EPDS and also her advert in the Racing Post last weekend.

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

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

Water Rail has only been ridden for a few weeks; I just wanted him to get his eye in.  He didn't like being in behind and much preferred to lead the older, more experienced horse – not a bad sign for a horse wanting to be in front! 

It was a super morning, I tried to explain to everyone what we were trying to get the horses to do and I hope it made sense to everyone!  We then headed back to The Angel Pub for a well-deserved pint (or 2!) and a great lunch – a perfect day!  Thank you to everyone for visiting and we hope to see you again soon.

European Trainer Magazine article - 'To shoe or not to shoe...that is the question'

I was delighted to be approached by Lissa Oliver who was writing an article on the rules and regulations in different countries on barefoot racing for The European Trainer Magazine.  It seems a long time ago now (2005) that I trained Saucy Night to be the first racehorse to win a race without wearing shoes.  In those days The Racing Post would make a big thing about it and say ‘the horse ran without shoes’ – now it is not even noticed!  Red Not Blue has now become the best racehorse we've trained to run without shoes with a career high rating over hurdles of 143.  He has won 10 races for us (over hurdles & chasing) and he has never worn shoes since he arrived at the yard back in 2009.  Hopefully you will enjoy reading the article via the link below - p.33 on the internet:

http://issuu.com/anderson-co/docs/issue_43_internet/1

Yard update, Cheltenham Sales & Money Maid and Twitter

Yard update:

                Although we have had a quiet time with runners, we have still been busy on the yard.  Most of the horses are still currently turned out for their summer break so we took the opportunity to clean out the whole yard, power hose and disinfect everything.  A jolly good spring clean!

                The last few runners were scoped after they ran and there was the presence of mucus in their lungs and they didn't perform as I know they can.  We did some analysing of everything that they are in contact with – haylage and bedding - and we found that it was down to the straw.  So after disinfecting the whole yard we have changed the bedding to a flax product called Flaxcore, which is the chopped up stem of the linseed plant.  They have been on it a couple of weeks and we like it so far.

                The trouble with straw is that it only needs to be rained on when harvesting and before being covered and then you get moulds and dust appearing later on.  The batch of straw that we had since Spring time looked perfectly ok, didn't appear to have any mould on it at all but once analysed there was the presence of mould and fungal spores as well as dust mites.  All of this caused an inflammation in the airways of the horses’ lungs so a kind of allergic reaction to the straw.  Luckily this is now behind us and the horses have all been nebulised.

Clean, power-hosed yard!

Cheltenham sales & Money Maid:

                I went to the select Brightwells sale at Cheltenham with John Powell and Tracey Sloan of EPDS Racing with an aim to purchase something a little special.  There were a lot of fantastic horses for sale – plenty of 4 yr old Irish Point to Point winners going for a lot of money.

                Most of the horses were from yards where they buy the horses young and perhaps unbroken and their business is then getting them to win a point to point and sending them to the sales making a profit.  A lot of them looked as if they had been trained hard and maybe too early – they were lacking top line muscle and were sore over their hocks, sacroiliac and pelvis.  I cannot say I particularly enjoyed feeling around them and noticing how sore they were.  It is all about turnover for the vendors and getting them in, winning and sold as soon as possible.  There were lovely, late maturing horses that I felt were just asked to do too much too soon; mind you the horses in training sale at the end of the flat season is even worse – our vet must be failing towards 50%. 

It certainly is better to be an event horse rather than a racing horse because event horses cannot be competed until they are 5 and they are ridden properly throughout their training.  This is why we have taken our time with our 4 yr old and he probably won’t run until he is 5, and hopefully without shoes.  He has been barefoot since birth, and he was foaled in the racing yard and for the past 4 years has been turned out maturing in lovely parkland.  He recently came back to the yard to be broken in.

Our youngster, Water Rail (centre) with Headly's Bridge (left) and Get Back To Me (right)

EPDS Racing did manage to buy a really nice 5 yr old mare called Money Maid who won her point to point in Ireland by an impressive 25 lengths.  She didn't feel over trained at all for her age and she had plenty of condition and muscle through her back and hindquarters.  She has a very good, honest look about her and is by the same sire as our successful Red Not Blue – Blueprint.  Her grandmother was a very good mare, Maid of Money, winning the Irish National and numerous Listed races.  The dam line is very strong and goes back to Ten of Spades who was a very good chaser trained by Fulke Walwyn.  Money Maid (or Rosie as she is known on the yard) won her point to point in very soft ground.  I was impressed by her when the jockey asked her long at the last and she took no notice and fiddled it on her own accord, so she has a brain and in fact if she had taken off when asked I think she would have fallen as it was very deep ground.  She will be turned out for a bit of grass and have a winter season and we aim to hopefully run and train her without shoes.  There are shares available in this exciting prospect so please contact John Powell at EPDS Racing – www.epds-racing.co.uk  tel: 07812 342192.

The impressive Money Maid on her arrival at the yard

Twitter:

                Just to let you know for those that don’t, that I am now on Twitter and slowly joining the 21^st Century!  I often post up photos of the horses so if you want to follow me, please do: @simonearle2. Below are a few photographs that I posted on Twitter for those that don’t hold Twitter accounts.

Owner John Powell with Homer Run and Natalie Charles with Benozzo Gozzoli visiting their horses on a sunny, Saturday morning

Homer Run (left) and Benozzo Gozzoli (right) enjoying a lie-in before working up the all-weather later. Both are currently being trained from the field

Horses in training enjoying a Sunday off - day of rest!

  

Derby competition

                I ran a competition on Twitter asking “Which lead does a horse need to stay on longest and why to be at best in Derby?” and thank you to all those that entered – very interesting to hear your views and the winner is……George Gorman – a bottle of bubbly will be on it’s way to you shortly George.

                George had the only winning answer (he is himself an amateur jumps jockey) whilst a few people had the right lead the reason why wasn’t correct.  George had the correct lead and was closest to the correct answer I was looking for.

                Basically it is all down to the track at Epsom, the reason it is the right lead (leg) is because if you gallop a horse along a camber such as there is all the way up the home straight at Epsom (from Tattenham corner to the winning post) the horse would need to be on the right lead to remain balanced.  The camber runs down towards the inside rail so the right leg would be on the higher side of the camber.  When you see a horse changing to it’s left lead in the long home straight it can often roll about and not use it’s stride properly, often leaning markedly to the left and towards the inner rail.  This was clearly seen in a few races at Epsom and jockeys struggled to keep their horses in a straight line.  Those that remained or switched to a right lead in the home straight ran more balanced and even therefore using their stride more effectively.  In a staying race like the Derby this is a must.

Gridwork today with Benozzo Gozzoli & Get Back To Me

                Below we have two videos of Benozzo Gozzoli (chestnut) and Get Back To Me (dark bay) doing gridwork in the outdoor school this morning.  Ben has done this before many times and we are fine tuning him.  Get Back To Me (Tommy) is at the very early stages learning gridwork and he is steadily improving.

Last weekend's runners: Homer Run, Red Not Blue & Headly's Bridge

                We were happy with our runners last weekend – starting with Homer Run who ran at Stratford last Saturday in a 2m6f handicap hurdle who improved to finish 5^th.  He hasn’t run much so far for us so we are learning about him still.  Brendan Powell junior rode him well and said he would appreciate better ground and maybe a drop back to 2m4f.  He blew up turning into the straight so hopefully there will be improvement from this run.  He is quite a light horse so we don’t work him too hard at home as he tends to worry a bit so it is all about steady improvement on the track.

                Red Not Blue ran in a valuable Class 3 novice chase over 3m1f at Market Rasen last Sunday giving weight to some decent horses.  They went very quick from the start on a very sharp track.  He was flat out all the way and I think was very brave to be getting back into it turning for home.  He was in 3^rd place and gaining when coming to grief at the 2^nd last.  He jumped it perfectly and just crumpled on landing.  Dominic Elsworth who rode him, was happy with his run.  Red Not blue quite often looks beaten and then he digs deep and finds another gear.  He is fine after his fall, just a bit sore in a few places so Anita, our physio, is out next week to give him a treatment.

                Headly’s Bridge ran in a very hot Class 3 handicap hurdle (0-130) at Kempton over 2m5f on Tuesday on ground that he didn’t appreciate as he loves it deep or testing.  He improved to be prominent turning for home and the combination of the ground, the distance of the race (being upped in trip from 2m), and the weight found him out.  The handicapper has given him more weight even though he hasn’t won this season so he has found life tough.  I have emailed the handicapper to see if he would drop him a bit in the weights to give him a chance, so we shall wait and see. 

                Spring seems well and truly here finally so the horses are blooming in their coats and we are looking forward to welcoming those of EPDS Racing to the yard next Saturday, 27^th April for their visit to see their horses.

Welcome back - Shilpa returns to the yard

                It was great to welcome the lovely Shilpa back to the yard on Wednesday.  She has been at the vets in Newbury (O’Gorman, Slater & Main) since her last run at Southwell on 4^th March where she was running well until she was struck into and 30% of her tendon was severed.  This is an improvement on the original estimate of 75% of her tendon.  Shilpa was wearing hardback tendon boots to help protect from this type of injury but the impact went in just above the boot and then in underneath.  Very unfortunate.

                This type of injury can be life threatening and luckily it was only 30% damage.  The more it is, the more trouble you are in plus there is also the threat of infection in the tendon sheath with a greater risk on her life.  After she was stabilised at Southwell racecourse, we drove straight to the Equine Hospital in Newbury and dropped Shilpa off.  It became apparent after 24hrs that she did have an infection so she underwent a general anaesthetic to have the sheath flushed out (with 30 litres of saline!).  Shilpa has pulled through remarkably well and she has certainly been in very good hands as they have been on the case for everything and the treatment has been second to none. 

                Tracey Sloan, who is part of EPDS Racing, and the equine advisor has been to see her numerous times and given her a groom and some carrots, bought her a new rug and checked up on her treatment and progress.  To be honest, I was dreading what colour the rug would be, as I know Tracey had mentioned pink..…but luckily it is a dull pinky red rug so she is allowed to keep it on! 

                For those who know Shilpa, she is one hell of a roller who loves her straw bed second to none so seeing her come back to her lovely clean and fluffed up stable and immediately make it her own was truly amazing.  Some pictures of her below.  We shall be looking after her and hopefully in the next few months update you on her progress and her road to recovery.

Flight Lieutenant Camilla Howard and The Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown

                It is with great excitement that I can give you all a brief on Flight Lieutenant Camilla Howard.  Camilla has been riding out for us since October last year with a view to riding in The Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown on Friday.  Camilla has passed her fitness test up at The British Racing School (which I can tell you is no mean feat!) and is awaiting news on her application for an amateur’s jockey licence.  Fingers crossed she hears soon!

                Camilla has secured herself a horse, trained by Seamus Mullins and has been schooling at Seamus’ as well.  We recently had a photographer to the yard to take some pictures of Camilla with Benozzo Gozzoli (the horse she has mainly been riding whilst here) as there is a wee bit of press excitement about Camilla riding in the race.  She will be the first female RAF jockey in The Grand Military and only the second RAF jockey in the race’s history.  Camilla is also following in the footsteps of her grandfather who rode in The Grand Military six times in the 1950s.  She has grown up around horses – from Pony Club to eventing and also qualifying point-to-pointers at her local hunt. 

Camilla has always watched The Gold Cup with her family at Sandown and has somehow managed to keep her training, assessments and application for an Amateur’s licence as well as a ride in The Grand Military a total secret from her family.  If you know Camilla and are reading this – DO NOT BLOW THE SECRET!  Her family are currently asking her about what she is organising for the picnic on the day and so far she is thinking how is she going to appear wearing her breeches and be all ready for the race with food certainly not on her mind!  This is going to be a real surprise for her family and I am sure her mother will be shedding a few proud tears.  Camilla is nervous and excited about the race and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that the horse stays fit and healthy until Friday 8^th March.  Good luck Camilla and fingers crossed!  I certainly think you are very brave.

Camilla Howard and Benozzo Gozzoli

Headly's Bridge - 2nd at Wincanton

Headly’s Bridge ran a cracker at Wincanton on Saturday, getting beaten a length (with 10 lengths back to 3^rd) in a £10,000 class 3 handicap hurdle.  Just so unlucky to come across one better when so far clear of the rest.

The trouble is that the handicapper is likely to penalise him as if he had won a race.  Gerard Tumelty (who rode him) thought he would improve for the run and we will just have to wait and see how much he will go up in the ratings.

It was a real shame that his owner, Penelope Bridel, wasn’t able to be there, although she was probably sat on the beach in Tobago at the time – not a bad alternative although for once the sun was shining on Wincanton!  Her daughter Jo and her friend Sue represented her.

We were very kindly entertained all afternoon by the CGA, who sponsored the race as well.  Carey Harrison-Allen was very generous and it was a real shame not to win the race.  We had a wonderful afternoon, thank you CGA.  The CGA had their horse running that afternoon, Aaim To Prosper, at Ascot and ran an excellent race to finish 2^nd so it was 2^nd all round!

We couldn’t have had a lovelier afternoon, which was enjoyed by all.  I did say in my previous blog that we were looking forward to running the horses so I hope you took the hint and were on Headly each way at 16-1!

Below are some videos of him schooling the day before his run to get his eye in.

Headly's Bridge being schooled by Luke Kilgarriff

Video from Friday of Snowy Valley, Benozzo Gozzoli and Shilpa

                Below are two videos taken on Friday.  The first video shows Camilla Howard on Benozzo Gozzoli and Luke Kilgarriff on Snowy Valley after their gallop on the grass last Friday morning.  Ben worked along sides Headly’s Bridge (who I am on) and they both went well.  We are very much looking forward to all three of these horses running shortly. 

                The second video is of Shilpa having a canter on a stretch of grass we call ‘Big Down’, a wonderful long straight and you can see she is clearly enjoying herself.  Sorry for the wobbly camerawork and I hope it doesn’t make you feel too seasick!  We are purchasing a head mount shortly so I can fix the camera to my helmet making for a smoother ride for all!

Benozzo Gozzoli & Snowy Valley

Shilpa

Putting shoes on!

                For the first time in many years we have had to put shoes on most of the barefoot horses.  We have been having to do more road work because the grass is so wet therefore the feet have been getting more wear than growth and a few of the horses were getting a bit sore.  We would be planning to take them off once it gets drier in the spring.

                I would agree with Chris Keable (our farrier & trimmer) who said – we much prefer to see a horse moving and going well without shoes but we also don’t like to see them struggling.  The horses are here to race and are not garden ornaments so the shoes go on and we keep going.  What is all important to prevent a horse getting a leg is to make sure the angles of the foot are correct and we feel our horses' feet are in a good place still, so hopefully they will not be having shoes on for long.

                Unfortunately over 90% of racehorses get a tendon injury at some point in their career.  Since Chris has been working for us this has not happened and I can’t recall the last one with a tendon strain – we are talking over 5 years now (I am touching wood whilst writing this!). 

Monday morning video

                Monday mornings for the horses can sometimes mean trotting on the roads up Haycombe Hill or a canter up the banks nearby.  Haycombe Hill isn’t just a gentle trot – it rises, in just over 1km, by 100m.  Today we went for a canter up the banks nearby and here you see (from left to right) Red Not Blue (ridden by Kelly Baker), myself on Snowy Valley and Benozzo Gozzoli (ridden by Holly Brown).  All the horses worked well and came home full of energy. 

Red Not Blue, Snowy Valley & Benozzo Gozzoli after a canter up the banks

The cold snap

                I’m often asked how we cope in the cold snaps and what happens when the snow falls.  Well, it makes for jolly hard work all round, no holidays here.  The staff become heroes just getting to work and it can take a good couple of hours to clear the walker and pathways to make sure it is safe to get horses out.  Keeping them all going in some capacity is key.

                Below is my first use of the little video camera I was given by Katie for Christmas (hence the rather amateurish use of it!).  Here I am cantering Benny up the nearby bank in the snow (not sure who is blowing more - me or the horse!). 

                During the cold snap it really is like working in a giant refrigerator all week.  The all weather gallops were out of use and the roads were impassable for a few days so there isn’t much we can do.  We did de-ice the walker twice a day, every day and salt the outdoor school and we led the horses through the field to the walker and put the time to good use by doing plenty of lunging in the outdoor school.  Benozzo Gozzoli was the only horse we ran as he was having a spin on the all weather on the flat to keep him ticking over.

                To be honest, it hasn’t done the horses any harm by having an easier week and the lunging has done them all good.  Also, since the freeze there hasn’t been much in the way of races to run them in with so much of racing being off because of the snow and then water logging and now pretty heavy ground.   We won’t have much to run for a week or two as a consequence but I am sure they will run well when they do.

The yard in snow

Cantering Benozzo Gozzoli

Get Back To Me arrives to the yard

                I would like to introduce you to a new arrival to the yard – Get Back To Me (IRE) – or Tommy as he is now known on the yard.  Get Back To Me is a 6 yr old gelding by Presenting.  He has good form in Irish National Hunt Flat races and if you look closely at the horses he has run against and how they have run since, it shows that the form has worked out well.  Robert Dacombe who has had many horses with us over the years owns Tommy.

                Tommy is a lovely, big horse who has scope but needs a bit of strengthening up behind.  Rather than run him immediately after he had settled in (as he was fit from his races in Ireland), it was decided to bide our time and at the same time be of benefit to re-school him in his work – get him to drop his head more, use himself better and bypass the dreadful ground we have been having.  Hopefully he will run on better ground (if it ever comes!) in early March.  So far he has been learning well and yesterday cantered for the first time.  He gave me a wonderful feel.

                We had been looking out for a decent horse to buy privately out of Ireland for some time.  I have an excellent contact in Ireland who we have so far bought 6 horses through and five have won.  The one that didn’t win, finished 3^rd so not bad at all!  My friend in Ireland spotted Get Back To Me and made enquiries.  I sped out to Ireland and had a wonderful couple of days, although missed my flight back.  I hasten to add not spending too much time in the bars drinking Guinness – but taking longer to have Tommy seen by the vet before his purchase and making sure a thorough examination took place.  Tommy arrived into Cheltenham the following week and has been with us since mid-December settling in.  We couldn’t be more thrilled to have him in the yard.  He is very gentle and good to do in every way. 

                We very much look forward to his first run and more updates will follow.

Get Back To Me after exercise

Headly's Bridge - 2nd at Leicester

Headly’s Bridge improved again to finish a good second at Leicester in a class 3 handicap hurdle.  Gerard Tumelty gave him another good ride.  It was a shame he ran against a horse that appeared to have a stone in hand, especially as the race was worth £10,000!

We look forward to finding another nice race for him and hopefully going one better for his owner Penelope Bridle.

Benozzo Gozzoli - 2nd at Folkestone

Named after the great Italian artist, Benozzo Gozzoli came 2^nd at Folkestone over 2m 5f in a handicap hurdle.  In 12 previous attempts over jumps the best he has finished was 4^th of 5 over hurdles.  In his last two completed runs over jumps he was beaten 68 lengths and 65 lengths.

This was his first run for us after seven months off and he ran a stormer to finish 2^nd in a very tough race.  We didn’t know what trip he wanted or what ground he liked.  Even his jockey Andrew Thornton, who had ridden him before in races, didn’t know and if you were a form expert and looked through all his races you wouldn’t know!  We decided to run him over 2 ½ miles and the ground was so testing that half the field had had enough with over a mile to go.  Ben was going as well as the winner at the last hurdle down the back and they were the only ones in it.  For me, it was the bravest performance by a horse from our yard this season.  I wish now that I had run him over 2 miles as he really emptied out in the home straight and Andrew did a wonderful job nursing him home to keep 2^nd without beating him up.

          We will respect the fact that Ben gave everything and give him time to recover and we will try and find a race over 2m on better ground.  He is such a genuine horse and a gentleman in every way.  I would love it if we could improve him more and get his owner, John Powell, in the winners’ enclosure again!