Tuesday 1 November

Up in Doncaster at the sales, but I am very unlikely to be adding to numbers here today. That said - I did manage to land a target yesterday - but from slightly further afield. Yesterday I completed the purchase of Chandos Belle in Germany, and I could not be more pleased! It has taken a couple of weeks to get the job done - but yesterday she passed the vet with flying colours and as I type is heading to Fences Farm. She will arrive this evening, and be out tomorrow! Chandos Belle is by a sire that I like very much - Mamool. Mamool was the sire of Dawn Commander, and also has our latest star, Apasionado among his sons. Mamool has had just 10 of his offspring run over hurdles, and half of them have achieved a Racing Post Rating of 120 or above! You can see why I think he is a very exciting dual purpose sire - he has been based in Germany since he began covering duties, but is now in Ireland, and is a sire I think we will hear a lot more about. It was after Apasionado arrived and started to show us how athletic he was, that I began the search for another one by Mamool, and that search lead me to Chandos Belle. CB is a fine, big scopey mare, that has been in the hands of top German trainer Christian Von Der Recke. She ran 3 times as a 2 yr old, and has had 8 starts on the flat this year. She has a German rating equivalent to a BHB rating of 80 in the UK. She has won on the flat, and been placed a further 6 times, never failing to earn prize money in all her starts. She has run over trips from 7 furlongs as a 2 yr old to over a mile and a half on her latest start just over a week ago. Our vet travelled over to Cologne yesterday and gave her a very thorough vetting, including watching her do a 10 furlong piece of exercise, and scoping her afterwards. He rang when he had finished, and said she was a cracking filly - sound in every way, and THE nicest horse he had vetted for us!! Praise indeed!! She will be allowed to settle at her new home, and then be schooled over hurdles. With a flat rating of 80 she could well end up being a very decent dual purpose filly, that is sure to take her new owners to some very nice places in the future. As a rule of thumb you can add 50 to a flat rating to get an idea of the level a horse can achieve when switched to hurdles - this puts CB around the 130 mark, which would get a run at The Cheltenham Festival, and also give her a superb chance of gaining valuable black type - making her a fantastic broodmare prospect when her racing days are over. As you can see by the photos she is also a big girl, so is likely to improve at 4, and as her previous trainer said - she could be up to Listed Class on the flat next summer! As you can tell - I am really excited to have secured her and the dreams have already started - but isn't that what this job is all about! Chandos Belle will be syndicated in the very near future - please get in touch if you would like to arrange to come and see her - I promise you, you will not be disappointed! 07909 518902, or email nickbrownracing@gmail.com Back at base and Cloonacool was ridden yesterday and seems A1 - so well in fact that he could well be entered in a 2 mile handicap hurdle in Huntingdon next Tuesday. A rich heat, that is on a flat right handed track that obviously suits. With no available chases, and the other hurdle heats being back in Ascot - it looks like he could well be heading to Cambridgeshire!! He may be joined there by Apasionado who will have an entry in the 2 mile novice hurdle. Molly Childers has an entry in the Warwick Bumper on Friday, but will swerve this and have an entry in Lingfield - also on the 8th - The Racing Post will be full of our colours that day if they all run!! Sneaking Budge is entered in 2 heats in Sandown on Sunday - they will need to get rain, as their ground would be a bit quick for him as it is. SB is in rude health!