Sunday 6 December

It was great to get our first winner on the board with the Fergal O'Brien team this week - the first of many I'm sure! It was Volkovka that broke our duck with Ferg, and her duck over hurdles, and she did it in some style. We claimed Volkovka out of a flat claimer in Toulouse in September - I had been tracking her since the spring, and when she became available in the claimer I had to have a go for her. With the help of our man in France, and the trainer, who is a good friend of his, we got the job done and she headed to the UK for a hurdling career. She was fully subscribed in days - with a lot of new faces joining in the fun, along with some 'long lost' friends. She took to jumping very well while at Jason Maguires, so it was a real shock that she ran a real stinker on hurdling debut in Fakenham, when she was made favourite, but we learned an awful lot about her that day, and Conor, in pulling her up early really looked after her. It was back to the drawing board, and Fergal and his team left no stone unturned in getting to the root of what occurred in Norfolk. It was clear that at this stage she needed to run right handed, there were medical issues to rectify, and the tack was looked into. She then headed off to Leicester to see if there was progress, and there was, settled in rear she travelled very well through the race, bad mistakes up the home straight taking a toll in the end, leaving her finishing 5th. Paddy rode her and was delighted with her run, and was very positive about the future, although righthanded was still felt to be important. A quick look at the programme book gave us 2 options before the end of the year - so off to Market Rasen she went. In what was a modest affair, she was initially installed as second favourite, but was backed into favourite by the off. Her market rival was another French recruit, that I had seen run plenty of times through the summer, and had actually been offered and turned him down - so I thought she had the beating of that one. In the race itself we knew we could sit more handy than we had at Leicester, so although ridden cold, she wasn't quite so 'Arctic' this time. Her jumping was much better, and under a superb ride from Conor, she cruised through after the last to win snuggly! A great result, and huge improvement again, she is a filly we think will keep on improving, so the future looks bright. A first winner for plenty of the members of the Tyringham Partnership who were all delighted with the run - especially after the start they had to endure in Fakenham! We had lots of smiling faces for sure, and even generated a few orders for a new horse too! More on that later. Volkovka came out of the race well, and will be out again in a few weeks, when she will have a couple of entries. She's a very nice filly, and looks to have a bright future, and with the speed that she shows, she could even have a run or two on the flat on 2021. Talk about highs and lows - we went from first to last! Blue Bikini was our next runner for NBR and the Edmunds team. She had run a lovely race on debut in Warwick, finishing fourth, in what looked like a decent enough heat. Stuart felt that she had sharpened up for her debut, and although the track and ground were both possibly a little on the quick side for her she took her chance. After jumping off and travelling really well for about 4 furlongs, BB was soon not travelling, and Ciaran was unhappy as they turned away from the stable bend. When she lost her position down the back straight and seemed to lose her action Ciaran eased up on her, mindful that she may have been struck into or trodden on in what was a rough race for her. She trotted back 100% sound and without a mark on her, but was tricky to unsaddle. At least she was coming home in one piece, albeit the run was a complete mystery. A nights sleep, and a lot of thought, and a couple of things were pondered. both of which could have caused her poor performance. One we couldn't change after the event, but the other really needed looking into. That was done on Friday - and it is now clear why she ran so badly! - It will take about 2 months to rectify, but there is a strong chance that she could come back an awful lot better than even her Warwick run - so the flame of excitement still burns! It would also explain an awful lot more about her ways, and is definitely something that has been troubling her for some time. She is certainly going to see a big change in her quality of life - and we look forward to seeing her out again in the new year. The new model Blue Bikini should be worth waiting for!! The third runner of the week was Classic Ben, again for the Edmunds team in Sandown. CB loves it there, and was made favourite for the 7 runner field. It was ideal this year as every meeting on the day had a race that he could have run in, so the field size was dramatically reduced. It was all going to plan until Ben decided to uproot the ditch down the back - a shuddering mistake at the very worst point of the race, he was on the back foot from there, but kept to his task manfully to go down by just 14 lengths finishing 4th. I was a bit worried after the race, as he seemed to chest the fence, but delighted to say that he seems fine this morning, and will be out again in the new year. The Masters Chase back in Sandown in February would be an obvious target, but I don't think we will be slaves to that this year, and keep an open mind as to targets, although it may just turn out that Sandown is the best option again. Queenohearts is entered in a 3m handicap hurdle in Cheltenham next Friday, and will have an entry in the 2m4f mares handicap there on Saturday. She would need the ground to ease if she were to take in either of these options, and has Haydock as another a week later. Go Millie Go remains on tick over, with a race option over Christmas although surprisingly that option may not be as straightforward as we thought. If she doesn't go over Christmas she may have a break for a while and be out again in the early spring. Our Bubba wasn't quite 100% when scoped this week, so missed his Leicester run. He will have an easier time of things and be back when he is once again 100%. Yauthym missed a few days work last month, and is back on the treadmill now, she will be ready to run around Christmas. San Seb is in great form, and he will be running again very soon. Hidden Beauty is back in work in Jason Maguires - she is looking great, and Jason is very sweet on her. She will pre train there and go to Fergal's in late January with the aim of a spring bumper campaign. Last weekend we had a meet up with the team that are taking Molly Childers on through her broodmare career. Molly looked great, and really enjoyed the attention she got! It was good to see her syndicate again, we've missed seeing each other over these covid times - and we are all looking forward to this next phase with Molly! As mentioned we have a few orders for shares in a new horse, and we hope to be adding to the team in the next few days. 10% shares will be available - and the horse will go into training with Fergal - he has just trained the most winners he has ever trained in a season, and we are only half way through December. All the horses look wonderful and he is having winners on an almost daily basis, and has just expanded his yard. He makes syndicate ownership enormous fun, and gets results - please get in touch if you would like to join our new partnership. 07909 518902 or email nickbrownracing@gmail.com