We are absolutely delighted to
welcome new owners, Mr Brian Hargie and his father Archibald to the yard. Brian Hargie has bought a really lovely (now
4 year old) called Royal Signaller from the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in
Training sale in October last year.
Royal Signaller is by Dylan Thomas and his half brother, Clowence
Estate, is in training with Roger Charlton and rated 95 on the flat.
Royal Signaller ran 8 times as a
3 year old on the flat for Amanda Perrett and he is rated 82. He won 2 races and was placed 5 times and
only out of the money once. His RPR
(Racing Post Rating) improved right up to his last run (of 87), this suggests
that he has more to offer and is still improving. What is really nice is he didn’t run as a 2 year old so doesn’t
have much mileage on the clock. In his
last run he made all at Bath over 1m5f and won, battling all the way to the
line. Since the sale in October he has
been gelded and stayed at The National Stud under the care of bloodstock agent
Stephen Hillen (who bought the horse on behalf of Brian Hargie). Royal Signaller’s stable name is Rubens as
the owner is a fan of Rubens Barrichello, his stable name really suits
him.
As we usually do when a new
horse arrives we teach them a new way of going and using themselves – building
up their core strength and aiming for them to be less one-sided and to get them
to use themselves more evenly. We get
the new horses to drop their heads and use and stretch their back muscles
thereby building up more ‘top line’ and muscle over their back and
hindquarters. Rubens has proven very
willing, although this new way of going has not come naturally, with some
horses it does take time. The theory is
that if the horses were stronger and well balanced then they would be using
less energy than before to gallop so therefore they should be able to go faster
for longer!
The aim with Rubens is to run
over hurdles but he may well also run on the flat. Options are being kept very much open in these early days and we
are looking forward to the year ahead.
He has certainly settled in well and we hope to give more updates on his
progress shortly.
Royal Signaller
