Sunday 16 February

It really has been a rough couple of weeks with storms Ciara and Dennis blowing through and bringing their worst. It has wreaked havoc with the racing programme, as I write, Market Rasen and Exeter, both scheduled to hold meetings today, have been forced to abandon their cards, and the racing that did take place yesterday didn't exactly make for edifying viewing. But, 'every cloud...' as they say, and thankfully this wet and windy spell has not affected our running plans - as we didn't have any! Yauthym, has been enjoying a short break since her last run in Doncaster, and has actually spent a week away from the hustle and bustle of Fergal O'Briens Ravenswell Farm. She has been on the go for a very long time, and is only a young filly, so the plan when we got her was always to give her plenty of time between races, and try to keep her fresh and well and get the best out of her before she heads out for a well earned summer break. She wouldn't have run during the last week, so the break will have done her good and she has not missed any racing. She will be out again next month, and will only have 2 more runs before a summer break. At Fences Farm, a few of our horses have been slightly under the weather. Classic Ben had a dirty scope after his Sandown Run, and has had a course of antibiotics. He will be scoped again tomorrow to see if he is clean, and then we can look at entries for him going forward. Molly Childers has a clean scope, it takes a lot to get her down - and has an entry in a mares chase in Warwick next Friday. Land League has enjoyed his mid winter break and is reported to be in fine form. He could be ready to run again in around 3 weeks, but the ground will need to be very different from the very soft conditions we have on offer at the moment. Our Bubba heads off to the Elms this week, and will head out into the field with San Seb, as mentioned last week, both will be back in July. Blue Bikini has had a quieter spell, but Stuart now says she is back in fine form now. Go Millie Go continues to convalesce from her pelvic issue, and will be back on track shortly. Figarella Borget is back cantering, her cut looks ugly at the moment, but this will be fine by the time she gets back to the track. Our young stock at The Elms continue to thrive - the 2 yr old by Mamool will head off to be broken in March - he has developed into a lovely individual, and has the look of an early type about him. He will be syndicated at this time next year. The Camelot filly that we got from the Goffs Orby sale in Ireland is a lovely big filly. She is the full sister to Gardens Of Babylon, and out of a Listed winning flat mare, and a half sister to a Listed flat winner and a filly that was placed in pattern company on the flat. She has a superb pedigree, and is very big girl, so the plan will be to aim her at one of the store sales next year. Our broodmare, Savingforvegas is due to foal next month, and is carrying to Blue Bresil. Her 2019 colt by Doyen is doing well - and at this stage the plan would be to retain him and syndicate him to run in our colours in 3 years time. His daddy is doing very well with some very high class runners on the track and between the flags, and of course we all know about his mum, who was unfortunate not to be able to show her true potential on the track due to injury, but she did win her point, and her bumper and novice hurdle before misfortune struck, an she is of course a half sister to Cheltenham Festival winner Rathvinden. We are still busy trawling races over three countries in an attempt to source horses for clients and a new syndicate we are planning for the summer. Hopefully we will have added to the ranks over the next few weeks - but as always we are more than willing to wait for the right horses to come to us. We have had great success doing this and will continue to do so - as in my mind it is singularly the best way of getting value for money. I have a long list of horses I am following, and when the price and the form fit to where we want to be, we make a play for them. We have had more enquiries this week for our investment syndicates, and will be putting together at least one more of these over the course of the next few months. Our stock at The Elms has been well received by the representatives of the sales companies that have been and inspected them. Next week we will decide which sales to enter them all in, as some will be better suited to certain sales. This is a very exciting year for our first group, Whitwick Bloodstock Ltd, as this will be their third year of their three year term, and they will be selling the remaining 4 of their horses. All four are by super stallions, in Crillon, Saddler Maker, Coastal Path, and No Risk At All, and all should be well received at the sales! Fingers crossed it all goes well, after the second year we were within £2k of the target, so we are very much on track. Purchasing for our other investment groups is ongoing - and we will be adding the their squads over the next 6 months as well. If you are interested in more information about either of our new ventures - our summer jumper, or our new EIS syndicates then please get in touch as places in both of these groups looks like being limited judged on the interest we have had already. nickbrownracing@gmail.com