Still riding the rollercoaster

After the terrible last week, I'm delighted to report things have taken a turn for the better and proved yet again what an unpredictable game horseracing is.
I was really umming and arring about whether to run Silver Alliance and Tiger's Home at Bath on Monday as on paper it didn't look like they had very good chances. Silver had won three races already this season and was racing off a very high handicap mark whilst Tiger had gone out of form. Our apprentice Shelley Birkett was riding at the meeting however so I thought they might as well go with her. When her other ride was a non runner, I was seriously tempted to tell the box to come home instead of finishing the three and a half hour journey to the races.
It's just as well I didn't though as Tiger's Home pulled off the surprise of the season by winning the first race of her career at odds of 20/1. I thought five and a half furlongs would be a bit short for her but she broke from the stalls well and managed to hang on to the leaders before staying on to lead at the finish. It's a huge relief to win with her as her owners have been very patient but I think a key factor in the win was the fact that the race was 'Hands and Heels' only- maybe she doesn't like being hit with the stick. Hopefully this win will do her confidence the world of good and she can follow up next time.

This success means that Shelley has all but won the 'Hands and Heels' series for apprentices now so that is a fine achievement, being the first girl to win it too. Saturday was another feather in her cap as she won a big handicap shown live on Channel 4 when Mabait charged late to win at Newmarket. It's high profile wins like this she needs to boost her career so hopefully other trainers will start taking note.

Shelley Birkett wins aboard Mabait

Seeing as she is in such good form, hopefully some of the magic can rub off on ours this week.
Brighton has always been a lucky track for us and Bestfootforward continued our love affair with the place by running out an easy winner there last time. That was her first run for us and she has thrived since. She won over seven furlongs that time but on Tuesday there were only suitable races over six furlongs or a mile. We left the decision to Shelley and she thinks that six furlongs will be fine as she has loads of speed and the slow ground won't stop her. I hope she's right!

Handheld (Adam), Bestfootforward (Ross) & Entrance (Danny)

The following day we have two old favourites heading to Nottingham.
Handheld won at the track earlier in the season and has only ran once since due to a lack of soft ground. It looks like it may dry out a bit before Wednesday but he'll run anyway as he is so well and I hope he can run another great race as I think he is still well handicapped.
Silver Alliance, on the other hand, is a bit too high in the weights but he's in great form so there's no reason not to run him. It's hard to be too confident but he always tries his hardest so you cannot discount a good run.

I'm tearing my hair out trying to get horses like Lea Valley and Omega Omega in a race. They are both rated quite low and in this type of race there are dozens of entries which makes life very tough. They were in at Brighton but both got balloted out and I'll just have to keep persevering to get them to run as both are capable of winning given an opportunity.

Lea Valley (Shelley) & Omega Omega (Graham)

Another who has been frustrating me is No Such Number. It's through no fault of the horse but I can't believe that he hasn't won another race this season. He has received a few bad rides and has been very unlucky but because he is so consistent, the handicapper doesn't drop his rating. He is in at Goodwood on Sunday and it's a race he is more than capable of winning providing everything falls right. Any rain would be an added bonus.

No Such Number (Reno)

With winter approaching, it was time to wean our two foals from their mares. Both took the separation well enough and the process was helped with the addition of two other foals from owner Peter Foster. One is a strong looking filly by Sir Percy whilst the other is a stocky Archipenko colt. The group all bonded very quickly and, as you can see, they took no time to chill out!