Following the Hoofbeats

Many of you have been members of our Hoofbeats Racing Club in various horses through the years and it has seen considerable success with the likes of Get To The Point, Sail Home and Bavarica all winning in the club's red and yellow colours.
Now, in conjunction with Hoofbeats Tours, the racing club is having a bit of a revamp and this week sees the launch of the new-look Hoofbeats Racing Club. The new system will involve shares costing just £180 for the year for which you will be part of not just one but four horses - Hamble, The Ducking Stool, Honeymoon Express and Handheld. They are all good fun horses and will be providing plenty of winners for the club and its members.
To get the word out there, we are sponsoring two races at Yarmouth on Thursday and it would be great if as many of you can get there to lend some support - just send me a message and I'll leave some badges for you on the gate. It's quite an exciting time and hopefully the club can really be a success.

Bidding to win one of the sponsored races on Thursday is Honeymoon Express. She ran really well in maiden races and then found five furlongs a bit too sharp on her handicap debut. She's back to six again now and it's a maiden handicap so it shouldn't be a great race and hopefully she can get us off to a flying start.

Entrance (Julia) & Honeymoon Express (Shelley)

Running in the other Hoofbeats race at Yarmouth is new boy Hamble. We bought him last month from Marco Botti after he won at Newmarket a few weeks before and from what we've seen at home, he is in top form and certainly looks capable of winning off his current handicap mark. He likes firm ground so the forecast looks in his favour.
On Wednesday, he did a good piece of work with Exopuntia. She hasn't run since having a spring break but she is back now in flying form and just needs a bit of soft ground until she is back out again.

Exopuntia (Ross) & Hamble (Alfie)

Unfortunately Automotive didn't shine today at Newbury for no apparent reason but I just think things didn't go his way and he'll be back to his best soon.
Last week he led a strong piece of work with two other of this week's runners.
First up, tomorrow at Windsor, is No Such Number. He hasn't had much luck this season with a few bad rides but the field looks likely to provide him with the strong pace he loves and our amateur jockey Ross is riding him and he knows him very well so should get the best out of him.
Ross is also on The Ducking Stool at Pontefract on Wednesday. All her wins have come at Yarmouth but she finished second in this race last year so the track is fine for her and hopefully she can continue her fantastic season.

No Such Number (Ross), Automotive (Julia) & The Ducking Stool (Reno)

As mentioned last week, Vastly and new purchase Never Another had a visit from the vet to be castrated a fortnight ago and I'm happy to say both have recovered fine and are back in full training. Vastly is quite a big, stuffy horse so we have to keep him going and he impressed me in a steady gallop on Saturday with Sancho Panza. I think the gelding will improve him immensely and the early signs are promising.


Sancho Panza (Reno) & Vastly (Billy)

Ending the week is Bethan making her debut at Newmarket on Saturday. She has had a few small problems which have kept her from running but now everything is fine and she is fully fit. She definitely has shown ability on the gallops but she is still very green and inexperienced so the run will improve her a lot mentally.