Sunday 23 May

It has been a couple of weeks since the last update - apologies for that! I try to do a weekly news bulletin on a Sunday or Monday - with a round up of the weeks happenings, but last Sunday we were busy showing our two horses at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale, so didn't get the chance - so there is a bit of catching up to do! We start with a winner! The 2021/22 season started for us in the best possible way when Yauthym got her head in front in Worcester on the 12th. A welcome winner for The Oakley Partnership, and great for them to get off the mark with Fergal and his team. Yauthym was not winning 'before time' - I had claimed her out of a flat race in Lyon in November 2019, with a bit of a plan in mind for her. We managed to get her some valuable black type in early 2020, but the main plan went west when the pandemic struck in March. She is by Authorized, and a half sister to a Cheltenham Festival and Galway Plate winner - so to get her black type was terrific, but she really needed her win bracket for her future career as a broodmare. She has been nothing if not consistent - the only time she had been out of the first 3 is when she took a crashing fall in Southwell, when in the process of finishing either first or (probably) second. We had expected her to go very close in Market Rasen on her previous start, but the short gap between races was her undoing. With a longer gap this time she went to Worcester in good heart, and dominated a large field for an easy success. She has come out of the race well, and will be out again in June. As Yauthym is the only horse we have in training there is not too much excitement elsewhere - Volkovka and 'Mini' (who is now named Our Seans Girl), are still with Jason Maguire, everyone else is on their holidays at The Elms Stud, including Classic Ben who went there last week. So to the sales, and last week we offered 2 horses in Doncaster, the Telescope half brother to Sizing John, and the Camelot full sister to Gardens Of Babylon. The Telescope was a huge horse, standing just under 17hh, but he had a great walk to him. He was eventually knocked down to Ross Doyle, for Colin and Joe Tizzard, and we wish his new connections the best of luck with him. The Camelot filly went through the ring earlier in the day, but didn't quite make her reserve, and we have bought her home. She was an absolute star at the sales, showing a really good temperament to go with her looks and pedigree, and the longer we showed her the less I wanted to part with her - so I set her reserve at a level that meant if she was sold I would be happy, but I would also be delighted to bring her home and syndicate her so that she would be winning in our colours! She now goes into training with Olly Murphy, for a new group, and we can't wait to see her on the track - she is a gorgeous filly!