Hoping to get 2015 off to a flyer

I was happy enough with how last year had gone but Sabre Rock saw off 2014 in the best possible way by winning at Lingfield on Tuesday. He has now won both his two runs since joining us and he seems to really have thrived since making the move. He is a pleasure to train and is a really laid-back character. He seems to love the all-weather so we will look to keep him busy and try to make the most of his low handicap mark. He has a few entries this week but the best chance looks to be back at Lingfield on Friday. It is the same class and distance as last time so you would hope he has a great chance, even with a 6lb penalty.

Sabre Rock & Shelley win again at Lingfield

 

He is not the only chance we have this week though, far from it. There are plenty of horses looking to get our first winner of the new year, starting with Tight Lipped at Kempton on Wednesday. He ran well enough on his debut for us last time but hung right quite badly in the straight. We later found he had a pulled muscle in his back which could have been the cause. This problem appears to be better now so he could improve on that first run, providing he stays the 1m4f trip.
Automotive is also entered this week at Wolverhampton on Thursday. He ran a great race at the track last time to finish second but he never runs two good races back to back so it's hard to guess what kind of mood he is in, even though he seems great at home.

Tight Lipped (Ross) & Automotive (Shelley)

 

Candesta also ran really well last time and I'm hoping the blinkers he had on that day have woken him up a bit. He has a couple of entries this week at Southwell and Lingfield. The first race looks in danger of being 'scrapped' under the new BHA rules which mean that small field races can be axed at late notice if there are insufficient runners. This has annoyed a lot of trainers and I'm not too happy about it either. After all, a trainer's job is to find races which are easy to win, and these can often be small field handicaps. You can have a race planned out for weeks, with the horse primed perfectly all for it to be for nothing when the race is cancelled at late notice. It's hard enough to make plans as it is but it's pointless moaning as the racing authorities just do as they please nowadays without consultation from those who the new rulings affect.

Another in a race without many entries is Bushy Glade. We probably got the trip all wrong for her last time and she may be a stayer rather than a miler so she's now going a bit further. All she does is gallop so it will be interesting to see if she fares any better.

Attain (Mark) & Bushy Glade (Ryan)

 

Avidly (Tina)

As I said last week, Previous Acclaim has now been retired from racing which means the Newmarket Equine Tours racing club had lost a horse. However, I have found a great replacement in Attain. He is a great, fun horse who is very reliable and sound. He had a lot of success last winter after putting together a string of placings before winning at Wolverhampton by a whopping six lengths. He had a summer break and is now back in full work, ready to run in the next couple of weeks. The Club really has a great quartet of horses now with The Ducking Stool, Handheld, Tolly McGuiness and Attain. You can be a member for just £180 for the year - you will get badges to the races to cheer your horse on and can even visit the yard to give them all a carrot! For more details, email me on juliafeilden@aol.com

New Club horse Attain wins at Wolverhampton by SIX lengths!