Sunday 22 September 2013

A brilliant week

What a fantastic week that was. We've just cleared up all the tables and chairs from this morning's Open Day and it was great to see so many new and old faces at the yard.
Even though our yard is a bit outside of central Newmarket so visitors have to make a bit of effort to get to us on the town's open day, your visits are very much appreciated and I hope you were pleased with what you saw and enjoyed the cakes and coffees on offer. Many thanks to Dillys and Sheila for their contributions.
Things got off to the best possible start on Monday as Bestfootforward landed a bit of a surprise win at Brighton. She had been working well at home but her form for other trainers was very poor. The move to our yard must have done her good though as she made all the running and won easily by five lengths. It's very satisfying to win with a horse first time out for you when other trainers have struggled to even get them to beat a rival. I must be doing something right!
Another surprise was The Ducking Stool's success on Wednesday. She had won twice already this season so was very high in the handicap and was running in a class above what she usually does. Despite this, she cruised through the race and galloped on to win her fifth race at Yarmouth. She seems to love the place so we will keep her to the track and hope she can carry on improving. It was another great day for the Hoofbeats Racing Club who have only been going a month but have three winners already and there were many happy faces to cheer her home.

Hopefully the coming seven days can be as successful as we have some good chances.
Hamble goes to Leicester tomorrow for the Hoofbeats Racing Club and he is in great form. We schooled him over some jumps last week and it seems to have perked him right up. The ground is a bit firmer than ideal but he is really well handicapped so should be thereabouts.
Handheld (Julia) & Hamble (Graham)
 
We have runners almost everyday this week and the horsebox will be back on the road on Wednesday as Vastly heads to Kempton. I don't know why but he is a much better horse on the all-weather than the turf so we're putting him back on the sand. It's a maiden race but he's one of the highest rated so if he runs up to his mark, he should be in the shake-up.
Automotive will make the journey up to Haydock again on Thursday. He didn't quite stay 1m4f there last time but a return to 1m2f should help him out and he is in top order. It's an apprentice race but we have Shelley Birkett in the saddle which is always a bonus.

Automotive (Shelley) & Vastly (Alfie)
 
We don't have many horses run in bumper races so it's hard to know what to expect but Never Another has been showing plenty of ability at home on the gallops ahead of his debut at Market Rasen on Saturday. If there were suitable races about I would run him on the flat but there aren't so we're trying him in a bumper as I don't think the distance will be a problem. It's the course's big meeting of the autumn so there may be some good horses in the race but hopefully he will have an enjoyable first experience.
Never Another (Ross) & Silver Alliance (Reno)
I don't like making really long journeys up north as it costs a lot in diesel and time but there's an ideal race for No Such Number at Ayr a week on Tuesday. It's frustrating he hasn't won again this season but he hasn't had the rub of the green. Maybe a bit of Scottish air will change his fortunes.
No Such Number (Danny)

My husband John's dad Tony has been hard at work for the past few weeks constructing a field shelter for the mares and foals. After first making it 12ft tall (more like a giraffe shed!) he decided 10ft would be more appropriate and it looks great. The horses love it and have already been using it to escape the showers. It will make a huge difference in the winter to keep our future champions warm and dry.
The new shelter gets a thumbs up

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