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