The best care on the track and off it

When you look after and see the horses day in, day out, they do become almost like close friends as you get to know their individual personalities and appreciate the effort they go to just to please us humans. When we feel we have seen the best of one of our horses, if they have no potential to further their racing career, we always try to find them the best home to live a happy second career after racing. These new careers can vary from just being a pony to someone or learning a new trade such as polo or dressage. I was chuffed to be able to catch up this week with one of my best horses - Spirit of Sharjah - who is now living a happy retirement with the British Racing School's jockey coach Richard Perham. Richard used to ride Spirit out when he was in training and the pair formed a great bond and Richard was more than happy to take Spirit on when injury forced his retirement. As you can see, they have both done well with age(!) and were enjoying a day's hunting when I caught up with them.

Spirit of Sharjah and Richard

It seems appropriate to mention the retirement this week of one of our longest-serving residents as Automotive bows out. He has been exhilarating and frustrating in equal measures since we bought him five years ago but his quirks were worth putting up with when he was on a going day at the races. My favourite memory of him was the day when he bolted up in a valuable handicap at Goodwood 15 minutes after Honeymoon Express won at Yarmouth. I think the crowd at Goodwood could hear us cheering from the other track! He retires uninjured but a great home became available for him and it was too good a place to miss. He will be moving to Tuddenham tomorrow and will live the rest of his life very happily as a riding horse.

Automotive winning at Goodwood

I do feel we did really well with Automotive throughout his career and got him to win races that other people would not have been able to. That's what we try to do with every horse and it's what we'll be hoping to do with this week's runners.
On Tuesday. Candesta goes to Lingfield. The one mile trip is a bit short for him but it is a very low grade apprentice race and it was too weak a race to miss. He may struggle for speed early on but hopefully he can stay on at the finish.
Then on Friday, we have another couple of runners at Lingfield. Vastly seems better in claimers than handicaps nowadays as the smaller fields mean he can get in front and lead. He is as well as ever and has some good course form.
Serendib's Glory will find things a lot easier in handicaps now and hopefully she can start to get competitive.

There have been plenty of photos of the two-year olds but one which has escaped the camera so far is Sunset Bounty. She is coming along well with the others and looks the type to hit the course from summer onwards.

Sunset Bounty (Liam)

Two babies who I hope will be hitting the track early are Secret Ballerina and Mungo Madness. They both look the types to be sharp and precocious and, although still a bit immature, they are showing good speed on the gallops.

Secret Ballerina (Adam) & Mungo Madness (Liam)

This is the first year where we have had two separate all-weather and turf squads to keep us busy and, after a great winter with the all-weather horses, it is now the turn of the turf team to take up the mantle and they are gradually getting back to peak fitness. Here are a few of the them stretching their legs on the Cambridge Road polytrack yesterday:

Silver Alliance (Ross) & Moment To Dream (Nick)

Star of the Stage (Liam) & Dakota City (Adam)

Sabre Rock (Mark)

Go On Gal (Chloe)

Duke of Diamonds (Caitlin) & Little Orchid (Sam)

Thanks you for all the Three To Follow entries, Ross says we already have more than last year which is great to hear. The competition starts on Tuesday so this is your last reminder to get those selections in to earn maximum points! Here is a reminder of the entry process:

Our Three To Follow competition is always very popular and provides plenty of banter throughout the year as well as a cash prize to the winner. This year's edition will be the longest yet with a start date of March 1st and running up until December 1st.
The rules are simple: pick three horses from the two pools and watch them collect points throughout the season - 10 points for a win, 5 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd and (new for this year) your horse will get one point every time it runs and isn't placed. So choose wisely and look for tough and consistent horses who will be prolific points scorers!

POOL A (Two and three-year olds) PICK ONE HORSE
Mungo Madness 2 year old (by Sir Percy)
Our Cilla 2yo (Sixties Icon)
My Name Is Jeff 2yo (Mount Nelson)
Kemsing 3yo (Footstepsinthesand)
Champagne Reef 2yo (Literato)
Secret Ballerina 2yo (Sakhee's Secret)
Sunset Bounty 2yo (Bahamian Bounty)
Serendib's Glory 3yo (Holy Roman Emperor)
Architech 3yo (Archipenko)
Little Orchid 3yo (Observatory)
Go On Gal 3yo (Approve)
Big Bang 3yo (Observatory)

POOL B (Older horses) PICK TWO HORSES
Silver Alliance
Dark Diamond
Vastly
Limerick Lord
Veeraya
Star Of The Stage
Sabre Rock
Candesta
Dakota City
Attain
The Ducking Stool
Handheld
Harry Bosch
Moment To Dream
Duke Of Diamonds
Artbeat

Once you have made your mind up, email your three to rbirkett1989@hotmail.co.uk
Points will be collected from March 1st so don't wait too long!