Two In One
Last week started slowly - mainly due to the fact that I can confirm that the nasty cold doing the rounds - is just that!!
Back on the go on Tuesday - and Newmarket Horses In Training Sale was in full swing! A trade that was simply mind blowing - such demand for horses at all levels - records broken across the board - the sales circuit moves on to flat yearlings in Kildare Paddocks next week!
Next week things start to crank up a gear. Tomorrow we have two runners at two different tracks. Blue Bikini heads to Plumpton for their opener - a mares maiden hurdle over two miles - her jumping left a bit to be desired in her seasonal debit in Warwick, and so she remains over the minimum trip to get her jumoing up to scratch - she had a quick trip up to Warwck racecourse on Wednesday to school over the hurdles there, and was realy good, and has also been schooling well at home since her last run. Hopefully tomorrow sees a better round of jumping from her, and she puts a nice round in. Volkovka is also declared to run tomorrow in Hereford. She has been declared on ground that is just on the soft side of good, and will need the forecast rain to ease the ground further. She has really improved over the summer - growing and strengthening, and her work has been very good at home. She is an enthusiastic young lady and will hopefully learn to settle better this season, if she does she will be a filly to watch out for over the winter. Should the ground be not suitable she will not run, and we will wait for a race the week after. It will be good to get her season started.
The other horses at Ravenswell Farm are all well. Nothing came to light to explain Yauthym's below par run in Ludlow last week. She seems fine, and will have another entry soon. Hidden Beauty continues to progress well, and it will not be long before she makes her eagerly anticipated racecourse debut. Her homework continues to catch the eye - she has been working with some very nice ones - so hopefully she can confirm what she does at home on the track. Mamoon Star is still down with Jason Maguire, and Lois has been thoroughly enjoying doing plenty of flat work with him - he is a firm favourite where ever he goes, and it was good to see his full brother finish second in the bumper in Down Royal yesterday - a race that is usually won by a very good horse..
Tomorrow Tintagel Queen heads back to Ivy Lodge Farm to begin her career as a racehorse. This beautifully bred filly, by Camelot, out of a Listed placed mare, she is a half sister to 2 black type flat performers, and a full sister to a Grade 1 hurdler, and has it all on paper, and we can't wait to get going with her! She will pre train with Jason and then head to Olly Murphy, with a plan to run her in a bumper in the spring. She will be joined by the Soldier Of Fortune Filly, who comes in from the field to join her in her work. She too will pre train with Jason, and then head to Fergal O'Brien.
At Olly's, Auditoria has had her next run delayed for a short while. she just went off of her food slightly during the week, and a scope at the end of the week determined that she was suffering with a few ulcers, so she will have a course of medication and should be ready to run again in around 3 weeks. We have learned over the course of the last couple of years the importance of getting (and staying) on top of ulcers - as they can not only cause pain and discomfort, they can also lead to a host of other problems that on the face of it you would not think would be linked, so we leave no stone unturned when it comes to dealing with them - if you know they are there you can treat them! One that seems to have benefitted massively from this is Queenohearts, who was diagnosed with them a few weeks ago, and has had weekly treatment since - the turn around has been amazing, and she really does look a picture. She has been heavily in season this last week, which, in his weekly video report, Kim says has led to her being very badly behaved!
A quiet week with the two in at Fences Farm, Go Millie Go fine after unseating Ciaran in Fakenham, a decision will be made if she continues over fences or switches back to hurdles. Classic Ben continues to do plenty of cantering on his long road back to the track.
What a fantastic days racing we saw yesterday - Envoi Allen was simply stunning, we are big fans of his sire Muhtathir, and are delighted to have one of his sons, out of a winning half sister to no less than 5 black type performers on the squad as a store. We bought him privately off of one of the leading studs in Normandy, and we couldn't be happier with him. He has really changed since arriving at The Elms, and looks a horse of real quality!
At The Elms - Barry the foal is doing really well - he was checked over by the farrier last week, and it was good to know that he is really happy with his development, and he requires no remedial work. .
