Homer Run

It is with great sadness we report that we lost Homer Run when he got brought down at Towcester on 1^st May.  Firstly I would like to thank everybody for your kind messages and my condolences to everyone involved with EPDS Racing.  Two horses fell in front of him and he had nowhere to go and was brought down heavily.  He had a small haematoma just in front of his girth when he came back to be unsaddled, so we took him straight to the stables for the vet to have a look at him.  The vet gave him a painkiller and advised us to take him home.  The haematoma soon got larger and it was clear to us that even with the painkiller he was still uncomfortable so rather than take him home, we took him immediately from the racecourse to O’Gormans (the equine hospital at Newbury) as soon as possible.  He was in great care and I always thought he would pull through as he is such a fighter but sadly he didn’t make it and it was a real shock to hear the news the following evening.

All the horses in our yard are stars in my mind and it doesn’t matter to me if they win or not or if they do win whether it is The Gold Cup or a selling hurdle.  Homer, I felt was just at the start of his career after having won his previous two races and coming a respectable 3^rd at Kempton, recording his highest Racing Post rating and we all felt that he would make a much better chaser in the coming season.  He was such a tough horse who would put his head down, grit his teeth and try his damndest for you.  He was a great jumper and in all his runs for us I can’t remember him making one mistake.

All the horses have their own individual characters.  Homer was very territorial in his stable and thought that it was his own private space, hence he might take a chunk out of you if you weren’t looking and got too near!  He loved being out in the field with the other horses and I never saw him having an argument with them, he was cheeky out there and was seen many times rolling, bucking and kicking.  In fact the very morning on the day he last ran he was turned out and I saw both him and Headly’s Bridge on their hind legs playing with each other.  He was happy here and he did everything we asked of him and often more.  Homer was a star and will never be forgotten and I can assure you he was having fun right up until he was brought down.

This is only the second time in 15 years of training that I have not brought a horse back from the races.  We have to prepare ourselves for that eventuality but it doesn’t make it any easier seeing the empty box.  I bet if you look at the percentages of horses that run over jumps that don’t make it home, it is very small.

I am sure Homer is happy now jumping clouds in the sky, I bet no one is jumping them better with his ears constantly pricked looking for the next one!

Homer Run in the evening sunlight

With connections after winning at Uttoxeter

Enjoying a roll

With Money Maid (Rosie)

End of the National Hunt season

                 It has been an entertaining season as always.  And it has been great to see some different faces winning the big races and my highlights are:

-          The whole Sire De Grugy story and The Moore family winning the Champion Chase with the horse and Sire De Grugy being named horse of the year.  I remember Gary Moore, the trainer, from my riding days, and he was a real horseman, honest and always tried his best on a lot of moderate horses mostly around the delights of Plumpton and Fontwell.  He probably rode longer than Andrew Thornton (by that I mean in leg length and not the amount of years riding!).  Gary doesn’t seem to have changed much from those days and he deserves what he gets and I just love the fact that he has got an absolute fantastic horse.

-          Dr Richard Newland & Leighton Aspell winning The Grand National and the fact that all the horses came back safe.  A credit to Aintree with the modifications to the course and it certainly hasn’t lost its spectacle.

-          Jim Culloty & Davy Russell winning The Gold Cup with Lord Windermere.  I have always watched Davy since he took ‘the wrong’ course in the cross country at Cheltenham several years ago.  He cut off the corner and went inside some of the hedges whilst the others went around.  It looked sure that he would be disqualified in the stewards’ inquiry but he kept the race, as the course had not been correctly marked.  I thought back then that this guy has balls and must be very shrewd.  It was shock news when Davy lost out on being first choice jockey and ridding all the good horses at Gigginstown.  He took it very well in public and with unlucky Bryan Cooper injured at Cheltenham he was back on Gigginstown horses and won! Davy is an example of a true professional.

For us, in a small way, I have been happy with the season.  We have improved our prize money again from the previous year and we have had 50% of the horses in the money for our owners, which is something we try to do as a minimum.  We haven’t had a faller or unseated rider all year and we have gone through the season again without a single horse getting a tendon injury or breaking down.  We pride ourselves on the horses being schooled well at home and we look after their feet – barefoot of course is key.

Our young horses have been learning their trade and have progressed well.  We have taken things quietly with them so as to set them up well for hopefully many years of fun for their owners to come.  We certainly have a lot to look forward to next season with them.

Each year, since we set up on our own again in November 2007, we have managed to improve on the previous season, all I hope for is steady improvement and I am quite happy for it to be done quietly as I don’t like making a song and dance about things.  We also learn so much from season to season and I hope that we can keep getting better at training horses.  I remember starting out again in November 2007 with just four horses and this year we were almost full (we will always have room for more!).  The quality of the horses is improving.

Some of the things we have improved last season are as follows:

-          Bedding:  It is crucial that we don’t have any mould and fungal spores that could get into the horses lungs and switching to our new type of bedding has definitely helped. 

-          Top quality haylage:  We also always now analyse our haylage when we get the new harvest in the autumn and we check the mineral balance, energy levels and again check this for spores, moulds and dust.  If the mineral balance is out with their diet then that can lead to a whole load of problems.

-          Individual saddles: Most of our horses are very lucky now in that they have their own, made to measure saddles and because of this we have gone through the season without a horse having a sore back.  We don’t have any race exercise saddles now on the yard! 

We have had new owners come to us last season of which I hope they stay with us.  I hope that we can provide all our owners with a good service, keep them regularly informed and be transparent in all that we do.  It is very rare that when training a racehorse that things always go smoothly and there are many ups and downs, I have rarely known a horse go through its training without some sort of set back, mostly minor.  We tell our owners as it is and sometimes there can be despair but we generally get there in the end.  There is a saying that you treat your owners like mushrooms (keep them in the dark and feed them a load of S**t) but for us that does not apply!

Thank you to everyone for your continued support and to the valuable team of staff and practitioners at Simon Earle Racing who look after all the horses so well.  Most of the horses are now enjoying their summer break being turned out in the paddocks so we go into a quiet period now with very little runners.  

An update on last week's runners: Money Maid, Loxley Mezile, Headly's Bridge & Shanaderry Kin

                We were all pleased with our runners last week and they have all improved on their previous runs.

                On Thursday 10^th April we had two runners at Towcester.  We ran Money Maid in a 2m mares’ maiden hurdle, she is continuing to get the hang of things - learning to settle better and was able to run on at the end.  She got hampered by fallers 3 hurdles out and was forced wide; so wide we couldn’t see her on the viewing screens!  She still managed to run on very pleasingly and finished 4^th. You would have to say she was unlucky not to have finished closer.  On the same day, Loxley Mezile also ran in the 2^nd Division of the same race as Money Maid and she stepped up appreciably on her previous run at Wincanton to be well in contention at the end of the back straight before getting badly hampered.  Her jockey then let her come home in her own time.

The following day we ran Headly’s Bridge at Ayr and Shanaderry Kin at Fontwell.  Headly’s Bridge was running in a £25,000 Class 2 handicap chase over 2m4f and it was only his 3^rd run over fences.  In fact he jumped a hell of a lot better than some of his more experienced rivals to finish 3^rd and was only beaten 2 ¾ lengths, with 13 lengths back to the forth horse, Tap Night, who has shown decent form at the highest level.  The Racing Post said: “Headly’s Bridge lost his unbeaten record over fences, but was stepping up in grade and showed improved form”.  Whilst it was a long way to go, Mrs Penelope Bridel and her daughter Jo had a wonderful time and were well entertained by Ayr racecourse.  Headly owes us nothing by running with credit in all his runs and has consistently finished in the first four in all of his 8 runs this season.

Shanaderry Kin also improved on his first run for us in a bumper at Ffos Las when he ran at Fontwell last Friday in a 2m4f novice hurdle, coming 5^th.  The Racing Post said “Shanaderry Kin had shown promise in Irish points and on his bumper debut.  He was ridden with consideration, as he was too keen last time out.  He certainly has ability if learning to settle”.

All the horses are fine and have come out of their runs well - we can’t wait to run them again (hopefully this time a little closer to home then Ayr!).

Tracey & Ellie from EPDS Racing came today to do templates for fitting made-to-measure saddles for all their horses.  I love owners who care like this for their horses and it will make our lives easier and the horses will be so much more comfortable.  Picture of Ellie with Loxley Mezile below.

Money Maid at Wincanton yesterday

                We were thrilled with Money Maid (Rosie) yesterday at Wincanton where she ran in a 2m 6f mares’ novices’ hurdle to finish 6th.  To quote The Racing Post: “Money Maid was an eye catcher, staying on from an unpromising position, hinting at better to come”. 

We know there is lots of improvement in her still to come and this is only the start.  We certainly haven’t put the gun to her head at home or on the racecourse.  We are in it for the long term with the horses and won’t sacrifice that for a good result tomorrow.  We have let her sort herself out and learn, rather than force the issue.  With Wincanton only being half an hour away, she came back home and put her head straight into her grub, which shows it was a positive experience.  When a horse is learning to accept and enjoy racing I think it is always better to relax, take your time in a race and be running on at the end and that is exactly what happened and she finished with her ears pricked, gaining on the horses in front of her all the way to the winning post.

We want Rosie to be entertaining her owners for as long as they wish and longevity is key; preparation and early grounding is the most important thing to achieve longevity.  Of course training and running without shoes is one of the most important cogs in that goal and Money Maid is trained and races without shoes.

         If you are interested in owning a share in a racehorse, I would strongly recommend you get in touch with John Powell who runs EPDS Racing as there are affordable shares still available in Money Maid - www.epds-racing.co.uk.  If you want to meet new people and make new friends as well as have fun at the races and socially this is the syndicate to be involved in.  Money Maid is the most beautiful mare, totally generous and will give her all for her owners for hopefully a long time to come.

Headly's Bridge wins at Newbury & Towcester

                 

Our loyal owner, Mrs Penelope Bridel, was finally rewarded by her horse’s consistency by winning at Newbury on Saturday 1^st March.  Headly’s Bridge has been placed in all his runs this season over hurdles (a record of 3/3/2/4/2) and was recently only beaten a head at Wincanton in his latest hurdles race.  His run at Newbury was his first run over fences and he put in a foot perfect round of jumping and bolted up, being eased down to win by 19 lengths!  Andrew Thornton who has a 22% record of rides to wins for our yard over the last 5 seasons rode him.  We were not afraid to put him over the very big fences at Newbury as he had schooled so well at home and has plenty of scope and knows how to shorten his stride especially after all the grid work that he has done.  We were lucky that Headly only went up 10lb and is now rated 130.

Penelope is such a lovely owner to have and is very patient, and she hopefully has a decent chaser on her hands.  There was one happy man who benefited from Headly’s win (and his decent price of 14-1) as he had a £2 bet in a bookies on the scoop 6 and Headly’s Bridge was his final selection so he won nearly £500,000!  It was a wonderful day and we were all invited up to The Royal Box after the race to have a glass of champagne (unfortunately The Queen was not in this time!).

Last Thursday 13^th March, Headly’s Bridge won again at Towcester under Paddy Brennan.  He was understandably odds on favourite.  He beat a Towcester specialist by 1 ½ lengths.  The ground there was drying and he coped very well considering.  We were lucky to find this race and I call it a ‘free’ win, as the handicapper hasn't altered his rating for winning!  Well done Headly, that is 2 out of 2 over fences.

Royal Signaller - new horse and new owners

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

Homer Run - schooling over fences

Homer Run has won his last two hurdle races for us and has (annoyingly!) gone up 16lbs in the weights.  Due to this, we may now run him over fences next time so he is busy getting schooled up.  The video below shows his first schooling session over the larger obstacles with amateur jockey, Miss Alice Mills on board.  As well as a video of him warming up over the hurdles.

He was a bit careful over the larger obstacles to begin with – which I like – and he soon warmed up to the task.  He was foot perfect in fact which shows all the grid work that he has done in the past has worked.  We prepared him for jumping the schooling fences the week before by doing lots of grid work over wider and higher parallels and moving the distances so that he had to alter, shorten and lengthen his stride.

It was a very pleasing morning and we are looking forward to running him soon.