New girl on the block

After a disappointing week with the runners, Candesta ran poorly, we have our sights firmly set on Friday when Inauguration, a filly we recently bought at Tattersalls sales out of the Charles Hills yard, makes her debut for us at Lingfield. She has only had 4 runs, most recently finishing 3rd at Kempton, so is still fairly unexposed. We galloped her with Silver Alliance this week and seems to be doing everything right to hopefully break the maiden tag fairly soon.

Inauguration (Shelley) and Silver Alliance (Niall)

Another horse who will be making his stable debut for us soon is Guising. As soon as we bought him he was turned away to freshen up and is now back to almost the galloping stage. Unlike the filly he has already won and was not a bad sort in his younger days so if we can recapture some of his early form he will be an exciting horse for the year.

Guising (Tina)

After a long absence through illness we have finally got the talented Veeraya almost back to full fitness. He is the highest rated horse in the yard and ran a cracking race last year in the big race on Good Friday at Lingfield. We hoped to have another good winter with him this time around but unfortunately he fell severely ill in the autumn and we are so relieved he is so happy and back to doing what he does best.

Veeraya (Natalie)

We have been quietly bringing along our 2 year olds and I have to admit I have not seen any other string going as well as mine! I cannot believe how well behaved and hard they  have been, we have not had a single sore shin or problem with any of them yet, which means we have been able to spend a lot of time teaching them the ways of the world. Even our home bred colt Big Bang has really grown up and done so well to catch up with the fillies after being broken in a lot later than the rest.

L-R Go On Gal, Little Orchid, Big Bang, It's A Sheila Thing, Dakota City (lead horse)

I woke up to very exciting news on Tuesday when I found that our fantastic mare Bavarica had given birth to her second foal, (after Big Bang) a lovely colt by Cityscape. We were soon over to visit and were even lucky enough to see him turned out for the first time and captured his first impressions of the big wide world! I almost had a tear in my eye seeing the mare as she as been such an amazing horse for the family, when ever we were on the cold trainers list you could count on 'Rita' to get us off of it! Nothing seems to faze her but we are still undecided about covering her again this year as it is more for fun than anything else.

Bavarica and new born colt

Bavarica foaled down at Northmore Stud which is in the village and while we were there we paid a visit to Bestfootforward, a mare we used to train for the stud and who won for us and was very quick. She gave birth to a filly by Equiano a few days before our mare. 

Bestfootforward and new born filly

We are all gearing up for the return of Sabre Rock on the 4th of March and he is progressing brilliantly in his preparation. He galloped with Handheld on Saturday and was very pleasing as usual.

Handheld (Ryan) and Sabre Rock (Mark)

Candy man can

As expected this time of year is always a bit slow moving on the race track, that's because we are all gearing up for the start of the season which now is not too far away. Our only runners last week were Tight Lipped, who ran disappointingly although he had excuses as he does not like being crowded and that is exactly what happened and he was never enjoying himself. The other runner Tolly McGuiness ran a little more encouragingly, however we are still trying to work out which distance suits him best.

Candesta (Tessa) and Moment To Dream (Adam)

Our only runners next week galloped together on Saturday along the Cambridge Road polytrack. Candesta (left in picture) has run some cracking races in defeat and responded well to the Chelmsford surface last time so he goes there again on Thursday. He has been extremely frustrating but we are hopeful of another good effort. Moment To Dream is an unraced filly we recently bought from the sales, I am not sure if she will run on Thuursday as I think she could do with a little more education at home first, she is still quite green, however I think after a few runs she will begin to show some of her true ability.

Handheld (Tina)

One horse I am very much looking forward to running after his break is old stalwart Handheld. We will be aiming him for the first meeting of the season at Doncaster where we are hopeful he will get his preferred soft ground. He usually runs best fresh and although he is on quite a high handicap mark I hope he can begin the season in style.

Sabre Rock (Mark) and Attain (Shelley)

 Also back after a short break is the mighty Sabre Rock (far side), after his incredible 4 wins on the bounce he was given time to freshen up again and is aiming to run again at the beginning of next month. He has also been given a tentative entry on the Group 3 Winter Derby which can sometimes be a pretty weak contest for Group class, but he will need to go up another heap in the weights if he will have any kind of chance. He galloped along side Attain who will be running very soon and is another I hope to have some fun with in the lower grade.

Silver Alliance

 Gearing up for his comeback is Silver Alliance. He is a real old favourite in the yard and I am sure another fruitful season will be ahead for him, although he is another that is a little too high in the handicap for his own good, he still retains alot of ability and as enthusiastic about racing as he has always been.

Honeymoon Express (Niall)

Honeymoon Express was a little disappointing last year after a promising beginning but I just hope it means she is on a good handicap mark for next year. She just gets bulkier every year and I still don't think she has stopped growing which may explain why she was just going through the motions.

It's A Sheila Thing (Mark), Go On Gal (Niall) and Dakota  City (Tessa)

It is always a very exciting time seeing the two year olds progressing at home and this year we have really been impressed by our four fillies. A couple of them bunched up in behind Dakota City at the weekend and It's A Sheila Thing (hidden) would probably be the speediest of the bunch, she has a wonderful attitude and is tough as old boots! Go On Gal (second) also is very professional about her work and if they can keep going the right way they will provide alot of fun for us all this season.

Duke of Diamonds (Tina)

Duke of Diamonds has just begun cantering after a long break in the paddock to strengthen up as he was not ready to race last year as a two year old. He is quite nervous but I am sure as he progresses through is training he will toughen up and is still very much a blank canvas.

Meddling (Shelley)

A filly I am very fond of is Meddling, she came to us a real handful but now she is such a pleasure to train and really seems to enjoy her work. She likes to have quite a bit of time between runs and so will soon be ready for another outing.

Cold week brings bleak end

It has been a slow week runners wise with Bushy Glade being our only runner. She is only lightly raced and we are still trying out new things with her to bring out the best in her, she ran encouragingly enough finishing mid division in a messy race and will hopefully be more to come when we have found the key to her.

It has been yet another bitterly cold February week but the yard had a sad conclusion to the week when Prussia Cove, an unraced filly was unfortunately put to sleep after she sustained an injury that she could not recover from. It is very rare that this happens in the yard as we are only small, which makes it even harder when we lose a horse as we all grow so close to the animals, she was a lovely, sweet filly and a complete blank canvas. We had not had her long after recently buying her from the sales and I am even more devastated for her owner, but atleast now she is out of any pain and I am pretty certain we did everything we could to save her.

With Ross now settling into his new life in Australia, I have been too busy running around doing his jobs aswell I haven't managed to take any pictures this week. Although, I did manage to escape from the yard on Thursday and make it up to the sales to purchase a new filly from the Charlie Hills yard named Inauguration. She has only run 4 times, the latest finishing 3rd last week at Kempton. She looks quite light so I think we will give her a few weeks to gain some condition and then begin finding a race for her as she is already race fit.

Next week also looks like we will not be having many runners, this time of year sees alot of repetition with race fixtures and always seems to be the same horses running. There is not alot of variety and I find alot of horses can really get soured off running alot on the all-weather during the winter months, so that is why many of mine have a few weeks off now ready for the last grind of the all-weather season and have a little edge on some of the other horses that have been running all winter. Avidly is a horse that has been eased off and has recently come back into work, her best form is at Lingfield so hopefully she will be one to look out for in the coming weeks. Also a horse I am looking forward to running towards the end of the winner is Veeraya. He is the highest rated horse in the yard and ran a fabulous race at last years All-weather Championships meeting in the big race so hopefully he will give us something to look forward to.

In the meantime we will be looking forward to travelling down the road again to Chelmsford on Thursday when Tight Lipped makes his reappearance after a great run last time to finish 3rd at the track. He lost a front shoe when jumping from the stalls last time and still ran on well and I think the track really suits his running style, although it is a little shorter distance wise than he is used to but that means his stamina will be even more in his hand. Accompanying him to the races will be Tolly McGuiness, he has been quite frustrating as he shows great speed at home but never manages to finish his races, the slower surface will hopefully suit but he will need to step up on recent efforts to lose the maiden tag.

First trip to Chelmsford City

It proved to be a frustrating week with the horses performing well on the track without getting their heads in front. Tight Lipped bounced back to the form we know he's capable of with a good third at Chelmsford City on Wednesday whilst Automotive and Candesta both looked like winners before just getting nosed out on the line and finishing second later in the week. It goes to show that they are all happy and healthy though and having a few placed horses is a lot better than having a lot of lasts!
Talking of Chelmsford City, this week saw my first visit there since it was reopened a few weeks before. I had been to the track when it was formerly known as Great Leighs so it wasn't too much of a novelty but what surprised me was how little had changed. You would think that after the relaunch, management would want to make a good impression but some areas were looking a bit tatty and the big clock above the saddling boxes didn't even work! The owners' and trainers' bar seems to be a bit of an after-thought and the door into it (which only opens from the inside) is a joke! Having said that, the small grandstand that has been built is very nice inside and is much needed as the track seems to be the coldest place in the country with a constant bitter wind howling through. Hopefully the yard can have a few winners there to keep us all warm.

We have just the one runner this week with Bushy Glade heading to Lingfield on Saturday. She ran a better race last time over further at Southwell and, despite hating the kickback there, she showed that the longer trip is what she needs. Lingfield should be more up her street and hopefully she can get into the money.

Bushy Glade (Ryan)

It is a busy time in the yard with horses at all sorts of different fitness stages. The group who had a winter holiday are now back doing steady canters and they all seem to be pleased to be back into the old routine.
One who I'm very much looking forward to seeing is Dakota City. We bought him at the Newmarket Sales in October and decided straight away to geld him and turn him out for a few months to strengthen up. He has done extremely well for the rest and looks like an absolute tank now. The form of his three runs in France looks very good and I hope he can be one of our stars this season. He has a lovely attitude and certainly looks the part.

Dakota City (Ross)

Someone else who is looking forward to what this season might hold is one of our owners, Carol Bushnell. She bought Guising from the same October sale as Dakota City and, likewise, we have given him a break since. Carol's aim is to ride him in the historic Newmarket Town Plate in August. It is the oldest recorded horse race in Britain and is run over a distance of 3m6f. You might think you'd need a big old plodder to win it but usually a horse with a bit of speed comes out on top. The important thing is that the horse is a good ride and Guising seems to be just that. His form isn't too bad either so Carol has plenty of reasons to get motivated and fit for the big day!

Carol aboard Guising

Tomorrow sees the departure of our assistant Ross to Australia for three months as he goes to Gai Waterhouse's Sydney stable to learn from one of the best trainers down under. With over 200 horses at the place, there will be plenty to keep him busy and some hard graft should keep him out of trouble!
Also on their travels is our apprentice Shelley Birkett. Now down to her 3lb claim after riding 50 winners, we felt the time was right for her to move to a bigger yard and she has been very fortunate to be offered a job at leading trainer David O'Meara's Yorkshire yard. David is one of the fastest growing trainers in the UK and now boasts over 100 horses in his care. Hopefully Shelley can get some rides in the bigger races here and take her career to the next level that we couldn't provide. That being said, Shelley will still ride the majority of our horses as she has built up a great rapport with most of them and is good value for her claim. The move isn't until March 2nd, so there's still plenty of work I can get her to do!