Khajaaly and his love of Wolves

I may be a bit under the weather with flu at the minute but luckily the horses are feeling in tip-top shape as Khajaaly proved with his win at Wolverhampton last night.
He must be the only soul on Earth that enjoys going to the place as his record there now reads three wins and four places from seven runs. He doesn't take his races very quickly so will be given a bit of time off before his next run but there are plenty of races to keep him busy over the winter at the track.
It was also a great win for many of his owners, for whom it was their first taste of success since the syndicate was renewed last month.

No strangers to success are the owners of Blackmore and I hope they'll keep up the taste of winning when he goes to Newcastle on Wednesday. We don't usually travel that far north but Tyne side is about the only place in the country that has some decent ground at the minute and that's just what the horse needs. He's in at Ascot too but we're due to have a very warm and sunny week which will make the ground there a bit too firm.
Blackmore has been ready to run for a while now and I hope he can put in a good display and make the trip north worthwhile.

Sail Home (below) seems to be really coming back to herself in the last few weeks and the improvement has come just in time for her run at Warwick on Thursday.

Ross (who will ride her) is pretty confident she will win so we know who to blame if she doesn't!

Entrance is entered in the same race but I'm hoping it will split so they are in two different divisions as she too has a great chance. Shelley will ride her and the pair seem to get on well together after being placed everytime they are partnered. I hope that is the answer as professional jockeys have been struggling to get a good run out of the filly.

Automotive, who we bought from France in July, put in a really decent gallop on Saturday morning and I'm desperate to run him. He's in on Wednesday at Nottingham but the ground is very firm and I wouldn't want to risk him at such an early stage of his career. We are keeping an eye on the weather but the chances are that he won't run.

Another who has been going well on the gallops is Beseech (below). She has just come back from a six month holiday and has physically developed better than I could imagine. She has got a bigger backside on her now (no bad thing for a female horse but I wouldn't want one!) and is showing great enthusiasm in her work. As I said before the break, all her previous owners are welcome to retake their shares at no additional cost as I think she could be a lot of fun this winter.

Three To Follow Competition

Khajaaly was a popular selection among many entries but not those at the top and the standings remain the same with Richard Salmon and Shelley Birkett sharing the lead.

1st - Richard Salmon, Shelley Birkett (44 points)

3rd - Maureen Youngs (38 points)

4th - Peter Darlington (36 points)

5th - Adam Beschizza (34 points)

Four others on 28 points, 1 on 25, 6 on 23, 2 on 22, 1 on 21, 3 on 18, 7 on 15, 1 on 13, 1 on 8 and one entry on five points.

Picture Perfect

Despite our only runner of the week finishing second, there was a winner in the yard after I won the local newspaper's (Newmarket Journal) photography competition with this snap of the swallows that always nest in Khajaaly's stable:



The birds have now gone on their migration to South Africa and gone too are the vouchers that I won for the local organic food shop La Hogue.

Like I said, King Columbo was our sole representative over the past seven days and he ran right back to form by finishing a narrowly-denied second. I'm pleased he is getting in the money again now (a) because I own him! and (b) because it had been a long time since he had shown anything worthwhile. He's in again on Saturday at Wolverhampton and, if he likes the polytrack surface, should be in the shake up.
Khajaaly will be going with him too and he has a great record around the track. He was a bit disappointing last time but that was on soft ground and the return to Wolverhampton should see him return to form.

We'll be at the same track earlier on in the week also. Red Hearts looks to have a great chance in her race and, after her win last time, we would be down in the dumps if she didn't finish in the first four.
Good old Sand Repeal is entered too but as he's rated so low at the minute, he might struggle to get in the race with 44 entries. As you will see from the photo below, he is working well at home though.

Left to right: Automotive (Ross), Blackmore (Adam), Sand Repeal (Rob)

It's sod's law that we had Blackmore entered twice during the week but he couldn't run because the ground was too firm and the next day at both tracks it poured with rain. He's in rude health and will be entered again very soon.

Verona Bay returned home today from the vet's with his leg in plaster after he fractured his ankle late last week. It was a shame to happen now as he had really improved for his first race and was due out again in the coming weeks. He has to have one month's box rest and then a month on the walker before he can start proper exercise again. It's very unfortunate but he is a big horse and should improve a lot over the winter as he grows and develops.

Hoping Blackmore can blow them away

It's been pretty windy recently and is set to get worse according to the weather forecasters as we are hit by the tail-end of the hurricane that has just battered America.
Leaves are falling off the trees too so my husband John is going to have his work cut out picking all them up!

Luckily the temperature has been mild enough for the horses to keep their coats as I was worried last week that some may start to go hairy. Bavarica didn't look too bad at Wolverhampton on Thursday night but she's a tough old mare who wins whether it's high summer or deepest winter. The only thing that does stop her though is the handicapper and she's in his grip at the minute but she'll be winning again when her mark drops a couple of pounds.

Scarily, the yearling sales are upon us already and although we haven't been bidding for any yet, I had a good look at a few on a visit to Plantation Stud just outside of Newmarket. It's funny seeing the youngsters again as you can't imagine they'll be transformed into racehorses in over six months time. Most of them were set for the sales but I managed to walk away with the one horse who really stood out.

He's an unbroken two year old colt and looks like he could be a nice horse. He's half brother to Obama Rules, a filly who won a Group 3 in Ireland last year and is now rated 101. He is built like a tank and seems like a real bargain.

Hopefully he'll be racing in a higher grade race than King Columbo is tomorrow at Brighton. I think I've found one of the worst races of the season for him as it's a selling handicap for apprentice riders. Columbo is coming back into form now and the ground is in his favour plus we've got a top jockey for the type of event in Lucy Barry who seems to win all these races. If he's not in the first four, I think we'll leave him there to give kids rides up and down the beach!

One with a bit more on their plate is Emma's Gift in a listed race at Yarmouth on Wednesday. She's been struggling over a mile recently so we thought we'd try her over a bit further and, judging by her piece of work over a longer trip yesterday, it should see her in a better light. If she can get placed and earn some black type on her pedigree, we will be delighted.

After having the summer off due to his preference for soft ground, Blackmore is entered up to run on either Thursday or Friday, depending on where conditions are most suitable. He looked like a really progressive horse before running a stinker at York when his back was all out of alignment. We've got him going sweetly now and, providing he's a s fit as we think he is, he should continue on his upward curve of improvement.

Hearts keeps us out of the Red

She may well be the smallest horse we have in the yard but she is definitely one of the toughest. Red Hearts is still only two years old but managed to record her second victory on her 10th race of the season at Folkestone on Wednesday.
It does annoy me that the Racing Post are always so negative about her in the newspaper as they reckon (because she won a maiden on her second start) she should be running in higher class races than she does but the truth is, she was an early developing two-year old who looked good at the start of the year but now her peers have caught up with her, she doesn't look so talented. I can honestly say she is no better now than six months ago but with this type of horse you need to make hay while the sun shines and, thankfully, we have.
It's great for her owner Dick Creese who has been with me since I started training. He is a terrific sport and it paid for his year's racing when she won the £10,000 yearling bonus at Brighton in May.
Red Hearts is in the sales next month and it's probably the right thing to do as she will not improve much over time.

Talking of time, I can't believe how it has flown by and we're already in September. The leaves are starting to fall off and there is a definite chill in the air in the mornings. The yard doesn't seem to mind though as the change in conditions usually sees an upturn in our fortunes and from now until the end of the year is usually a profitable time for us - in November and December 2010 we had nine winners.

Hopefully the horses can keep their summer coats for a while longer as it really does mean winter is upon us when I have to get the clippers out. Bavarica's coat is usually the first to give way and it is showing some early signs of getting fluffy.

Incidentally, Bavarica is our only runner in what will be a quiet week. As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, she won her 11th race under my daughter Shelley at Folkestone and this is her first run since. She went up three pounds in the handicap for that win which now means she is rated 73 - a mark she usually struggles to win off but my son Ross, who rides her everyday, says she is in the form of her life so I hope she can win a bit of prize-money.

We had a busy week just gone and I'm glad we at least got one winner.
Sancho Panza was a bit disappointing in the Amateur's Derby at Epsom on Monday but he's been coughing his head off since then so may have just been a bit under the weather. It has cleared up now though so he will be back in action soon.
The following day, Sail Home showed a bit more than she had done recently. The one thing I did notice though was that she got very wound up by the loud-speaker in the parade-ring and it upset her quite a bit. I would put ear-plugs on her next time but she is very funny about you touching her ears so we will try a hood which Sir Henry Cecil uses quite a lot to good effect on his fiery fillies.
Another female who lost the plot a bit was Entrance at Brighton on Friday. She has been disappointing since winning at the start of the season but I'm just going to change her routine a bit at home and I think it will help her tremendously to get her mind back on the job. On the same day, King Columbo ran well to finish fourth. He's finding some form now after a long spell in the doldrums and looks likely to win again before the year is out.

We are still looking for a home as a riding horse for Dakota Hues. He was retired from racing in the summer but is a great big horse who would make someone a lovely eventer. On the chance that anyone is interested in him, do not hesitate to contact me.



Three To Follow Update
No-one included Red Hearts in their lists so standings are as before.