Surprise, Surprise

Well, I was the last person who thought that I would be sitting here, extolling the virtues of Sancho Panza. However, the son of Zaffeen shocked us all yesterday by winning (well, bolting up really) at Windsor at odds of 33/1.
He had become very frustrating as he had shown ability in a few all-weather runs but had not reproduced it on turf. The race he was in at the Thames venue was an amateur race for jockeys from different countries around the world. Luckily, we drew not a bad jock in Jacob Smith who was one of the few who could talk English as he hailed from America.
His orders were simple - jump out and make the running. It was all going to plan until he left the stalls...where he commenced to sit last of the field of nine!
I thought it was now a lost cause and began to focus on my son Ross who was riding for John Bridger in the race and looked to have a good chance three furlongs from home when he was passed by a dark coloured horse - Sancho Panza!
Sancho scooted clear under a hands and heels ride in front of a silent crowd. Mr Smith didn't mind though as he punched the air like Tony McCoy winning the National.
Then, in the winners enclosure, Smith stayed aboard Sancho for a hell of a long time - we thought he might have been waiting for someone to put a laurel of flowers over the horse's withers like in the Breeders' Cup. He wasn't the only one getting excited - one racegoer from across the pond was shouting "USA! USA! USA!" Ryder Cup-style.
Anyway, it was great to get back into the winner's enclosure after a slightly quiet run and I'm sure the victories will come thick and fast after this.

I've got quite a few interesting runners this week.
Night Orbit will tackle fences for the first time at Huntingdon on Monday providing the ground isn't too soft. He has been schooling over the bigger obstacles very impressively which has led his jockey, Colin Bolger, to label him "the best novice I have sat on". Let's hope he's right.
Bavarica and King Columbo run at Epsom on the same day and both will have great chances with preference over the latter.
We have some entries later in the week but all will depend on what the weather does - we've had a ridiculous amount of rain in the past seven days and the ground is at saturation point so we will have to keep a close eye on the forecasts.

Hoping to turn the tide

Lady Luck was definitely not looking our way this week as we had some horrendous misfortune. First of all, Rathbawn Girl was drawn very wide at Wolverhampton on Monday and, to make matters worse, the horse on her inside hung violently around the home bend and virtually eliminated any chances we had of winning.
Next to go on the unlucky list was Little Meadow at Brighton the following day. As her name implies, she is only a tiny filly and obviously came off worse when four horses, including her, had a barging match at the top of the Sussex-venue’s hill. She came home worse for wear with stitches in her back leg and a bang to her head.
But hey-ho, that’s racing and there will be better days for the pair.

My daughter Shelley’s first ride under rules at Salisbury on Thursday was a nerve-racking occasion. I always get nervous when one of my blood ride in a race, not for their incompetence but for the inability of others. The standard of riding in amateur races varies wildly and you could be a fully capable pilot but be interfered with by an out of control novice. My fears were misplaced however as both came home safe and sound in fourth with Shelley learning a lot for the debut.

This week is a big one for my son Ross. At the weekend he is representing Great Britain in an amateur race challenge at Goodwood and Windsor where riders are selected from various European countries in a one-off event. Ross will be wearing a special Union Jack pair of silks at Goodwood and I hope he can get some glory in them. Then on the Bank Holiday Monday, he rides Bavarica at Epsom in the Gentlemen’s Derby.

Amongst the other runners is Beseech who sees a racecourse for the first time at Kempton on Monday. She has plenty of ability but we’ve had a few setbacks with her, hence the delay until her first run and it will be intriguing to see how she performs. Khalaajy, at the same meeting, should have a good chance if he can put last time’s disappointing run behind him.

A runner a day keeps the horsebox away.

After such a busy seven days a fortnight ago, it was a nice relief to have relatively few runners this week.
They all ran with credit, particularly the two runners at Doncaster - Spirit of Sharjah and Bavarica - who both finished third.
Spirit is undoubtedly talented but has his quirks and only wins when everything drops right for him but this was him on a going day.
'Rita' on the other hand is a real gem of a horse. This was her 90th career run, all of which have been for us, and she doesn't seem to be slowing down, well the handicapper certainly doesn't think so as she's on the highest mark of her life at the age of eight. That's the problem with handicap races in this country (as James Given put it a few weeks ago) horses are handicapped to lose. If you do well, you get penalised. So, in theory, you can only win by losing. It's a joke and real battlers like Bavarica are the ones who suffer most.

We have a runner everyday this week and I couldn't write off any of their chances.
I'll be taking most interest though in King Columbo at Salisbury on Friday. My daughter, Shelley, will be having her first ride under rules on him and it will be exciting stuff. Don't worry about having a bet on the girl as she is a fully competent jockey, having ridden four winners pony racing.

Here, there, everywhere.

It’s not been a jam-packed week, more a so-busy-I’ve-barely-had-time-to-sit-still one.

We’ve had runners galore and they’ve all been hitting the goalposts without anything rippling the back of the net. The admirable Bavarica ran another fine race on Monday to come second as did Rathbawn Girl at Brighton later on in the week.

Most of the other runners we had all did as we expected except the two raiders we sent up north: Generous Genella got seriously tired in the mud at Haydock and we expect her to do much better for the experience and our new purchase, Khalaajy, ran slightly disappointing at Newcastle. We’ve only had the horse for a month or so and it may have just been that he needs a little longer to settle in to his new surroundings.

To cap off a hectic week, John, Shelley and I went to Ireland at the weekend to go to Dingle races. All I can say is that it was one of the best experiences of my life – the people there were so welcoming, the scenery was breath-taking and the general experience was once in a lifetime. The racing itself was great too, as the whole purpose of our visit was to watch Shelley’s former racing pony run at Dingle. What’s more, he won.
It was amazing how many people we knew over there – fellow trainer Brendon Powell was one, as was a former in-mate of ours, Rapid City, who was running in the big race – the Dingle Derby.

After such a active week, we only have a few runners in the coming one but all should have chances, with Spirit of Sharjah the main fancy at Doncaster on Saturday.

Busy, busy, busy

Well, I can stop moaning now – the rain has finally arrived. It’s been a wet week and although we’ve got soaked to the bone out on the Heath, no-one has complained because the precipitation was so desperately needed – it actually makes a change to be wet with rain rather than clammy with sweat.

We’ve witnessed another fruitless week winners-wise but, in all fairness, none of them were hugely fancied. Musselburgh is a terrific track that has done everything right, ranging from free racecards for all to free fruit in the stable lads canteen, but visits to Scotland might be coming less frequent now that we’ve had three runners there with little success. No winners make the homeward journey seem a lot longer.

Emma’s Gift surprised us at Newmarket at the weekend with a blinding run. The rain was not what she wanted but the owners persisted that she run because they had made a long trip to see her. She was giving a stone to most of her rivals and, after being interfered with a furlong out, she flew home to finish fourth. She will try her luck in Group company again next time.

Later that day we had Chadwell Spring at Lingfield. The run in itself was nothing remarkable (she doesn’t try too hard) but what made us laugh was when her jockey, Seb Sanders, returned to the unsaddling enclosure with his whip in two pieces – it had snapped in half during the race! This is not a rare occurrence – many other jockeys have experienced similar situations and the only blame can be the new, ultra-cushioned sticks that the jockeys are forced to use. Someone needs to redesign these batons otherwise races are going to be lost because of it.

It’s going to be a really busy week with a hoard of runners. Brighton hosts its annual three-day festival and we’ll be at my favourite track everyday with runners. It also looks like the horsebox will be back on the A1 to Newcastle as Khajaaly makes his debut for us and we are expecting good things, as with Generous Genella the next day at Haydock.

I'm off for a weekend away to Ireland at the end of it and a winner would be a great way to see me off.