Freezing Not Flaming June
A week that felt more like November than June – bloody chilly – and need I say, wet – when will it ever stop raining?!
We had a couple of runners during the week – and I managed to get through my second speed awareness session in 5 days – so there was a bit going on.
Monday – after looking at the weather forecast, which, (surprise surprise) was suggesting that the country was in for a bit of a deluge towards the end if the week, we decided to give Mamoon Star an entry in Uttoxeter on Saturday, who’s ground was Good to Firm in places, unlike Market Rasen where he already had an entry on Friday – who’s ground was Good to Soft in places. MS has been held back for a summer campaign, with the aim of avoiding soft ground – so we needed a back up plan should Market Rasen be too soft. The Uttoxeter race was over 3m – but we all feel that he will be stepping up to that trip in the near future, so it was a suitable alternative should we require it despite it being left handed.
Jason Maguire is busy with the three two-year-olds that he is breaking in at the moment. The grey, by The Grey Gatsby is a couple of weeks ahead of the other two that have gone down to Ivy Lodge from The Elms. He is doing very nicely, has a great attitude to work and goes nicely, he has an awful lot of growing to do – but has shifted the weight that he put on in the spring and is cantering away very nicely. He will be schooled over poles and hurdles, starting in the lose school, and progressing to being ridden over a hurdle in the arena. When Jason is happy with him, he will return to the field for the rest of the summer. We do like to get the two-year-olds schooled while breaking them as 2 yr olds. Jumping is ‘like riding a bike’, they never forget the basics, and it can give them a real advantage when they come to start their career over obstacles. As mentioned, Floyd (Falco x Savingforvegas) and Finbar (Falco x Molly Childers) are both a couple of weeks behind the grey – as their arrival at Ivy Lodge was held up for a short while. Both are progressing nicely. We are documenting the breaking in process for a series of features on The Red Sash Racing Members Area, and Jason has been kind enough to send almost daily videos of Floyd and his progress, explaining what he is going through and why. Floyd has been a model pupil and is proving to be an easy horse to do at this early stage. It is interesting to see how the two ( Floyd and Finbar) progress side by side, and at this stage Floyd is going through the process more swiftly than his classmate, who is proving to be the type of lad who likes to test the patience of the teacher. He finds it difficult to co operate at times, and each step takes a day or two longer to achieve with him. He is lungeing nicely, but he certainly is a hardy little soul, and has plenty of his mothers ‘attitude’ about him!
Floyd on the lunge on Monday - follow his progress by siging up to The Red Sash Racing Club
You will be able to see their progress by signing up to our Racing Club – you get a share in Ridin Solo, and access to our ‘In Behind’ feature in the Members Area, where we get to highlight some parts of the racing and bloodstock industries that are often overlooked. Our content thus far has included seeing a horse have an endoscope, with the process and results explained by a leading equine vet, we have witnessed and explained a gastroscope, and also featured an episode with Olympic Gold Medallist Laura Collett, as she hosts one of our horses for a spell of flat work while he was on a short break. Head to www.redsashracing.co.uk to sign up – it is just £75 for a full season – you get a very well handicpped racehorse, and hopefully you will learn a bit about the industry as well!
Great to get a photo of a relaxed looking Maria’s Flame who is now turned out with Connor Brace. She will have a few weeks in the paddock and then return to training with Fergal. She is a filly that they all like a lot – and will be plenty of fun for her owners when she starts off over hurdles in the autumn – she simply loves jumping!
Maria's Flame relaxing.
Tuesday – talking of The Red Sash Racing Club – we were posting out New Membership packs on Tuesday morning. The club has started very well, and it is fun to see the community grow – there were teething troubles at the start – as there is with any new venture, but now that we have ironed out the gremlins (especially with the new website) it all seems to flow along nicely now!
Just after 11.00am I signed into my second speed awareness course in 5 days – slightly confusing the host in the process – I had hoped to get the same lady that hosted my first one the previous Friday, just to see the look on her face when I showed up again – but evidently there are an awful lot of them – but my latest lady did panic when I informed her it was my second one in 5 days – hurriedly telling me that I could only do one every 3 years – until I explained that I had been caught speeding twice in the same day – and my first course had been the one for motorway driving, and this one was the more ‘general’ one! She then just grunted and said I’d know all the answers – which I did, and I managed to save everyone about 15 minutes of their lives by answering them all very quickly and moving then whole process on swiftly! Result!
After I got off of the Zoom meeting, I jumped in the car and headed up the A1, very much staying within the speed limit – to see Auditoria run in a handicap hurdle. She is another one that prefers a sounder surface, and who we just couldn’t run through the winter on the hock deep ground that was everywhere. We decided to give her a mid winter break and run her through the summer, where she would be guaranteed better ground. Having started her off over 3m2f in Stratford, which was an experiment, and proved 100% that she didn’t stay that marathon trip, she was dropped back to 2m4f in a mares handicap hurdle. Sean Bowen once again taking the ride, and he had a plan – he was going to be very positive on her and try and make it a true test at the trip. The pair bounced out and got the lead and did their very best to stay there. Audrey jumped great, until Sean left it to her at one, and found himself ‘calling a cab’ – after which he was extremely positive on the approach to all the subsequent obstacles – leaving his mount in no doubt what was expected of her. Sean wound the pace up down the back and had most of the field in trouble, and turning for home there were only two challengers to her lead. She saw off the first one off, but sadly couldn’t quite manage to see off the late charge of the favourite but did her best to get back up after the last, eventually finishing a very brave second. It was a lovely run from her – she showed that she still relishes a battle, and I am sure that she will be in the winners enclosure again very soon. She was only beaten by an improving, well handicapped mare – with the remainder a long way behind them. She will be out again in 2/3 weeks – when hopefully we can avoid a race with that sort of well handicapped opponent in it! It was a fun afternoon – I always enjoy a trip to Southwell – it was where we had our first ever winner in 2000 – so it holds special memories for me!
Audrey feeling well in the paddock
Post race - posing with what is obviously a local 'boy band'
Audrey enjoying a day off on Wednesday - a couple of shares available in her!
Wednesday – a race report to write for Auditoria’s syndicate members – and as I type I realise that I have not sent it out yet – they will be getting that after I have finished this.
Fergal over in Ireland at the Goffs Arkle Sale, and we had a long chat in the morning about where to run Mamoon Star at the weekend. Market Rasen, or Uttoxeter – after consulting several weather apps, and everyone involved in him, from work riders to current and former jockeys, the decision was made to head to Market Rasen and hope they missed most of the rain. MS has a tendency to go right handed, and due to that Market Rasen would suit him better than Uttoxeter, and as it was a conditional jockeys race, Fern would take the ride.
Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday I kept an eye on the Arkle Sale at Kildare Paddocks in Ireland – 400+ select National Hunt Stores going under the hammer, and the fears on the run up to the sale were that the trade could be very sticky. As the two days progressed it was clear that there was still a strong appetite for the ‘right’ horse, and trade held up fairly well – it was down on the previous year – but that was a record, and not a surprise. The pleasing thing was that the figures didn’t drop as much as they could have, the bloodstock industry once again proving how robust and resilient it is! Don’t get me wrong if you don’t have that ‘right’ horse, it is tricky to sell them and there were a lot of vendors that came home without finding a buyer for their stock, but all in all – it wasn’t too bad. There is still an appetite to buy nice horses!
While plenty of trainers and agents were buying horses in Ireland, we were selling the penultimate share in Old Blue Eyes. Now just a single share left in him – I won’t tell you again how much we like him – but it was good to hear it from Mark Jones who travels a lot of Donalds horses when I saw him in Market Rasen on Friday – ‘Oooh they really like that one’! was his report. So don’t just take it from me – listen to the guys that ride him – and grab yourself the last share. He looks like the sort of horse that can take you to some very smart meetings this season!
Also, on Wednesday we started to think about plans and dates for horses to return to their trainers. After looking at them all, and seeing how they are summering, we have decided to send them all back to their trainers on either the 1st or the 8th of July. We had considered sending one back a little before the others, but he will get an extra couple of weeks holiday and go back to his trainer on July 1st.
Thursday – with just Mamoon Star badges to organise, I spent the rest of the day catching up with a host of pending orders for new horseboxes. We have been very busy supplying new boxes since just before Christmas, and the demand does not seem to be easing up. A mixture of existing and new clients has kept us busy, and there is plenty of work to do after a busy few days up at the Spring Sale in Doncaster last month.
Friday, plenty of heavy showers about, and I was hoping that Market Rasen would miss them! I was also hoping that Denton would miss them too – as I had arranged to meet Steve over at The Elms to show him his horses that are there. After a quick coffee and a chat, we headed out to the fields to see the ‘team’. Barry is back from Ivy Lodge Farm and is winding down. He looks fantastic, and having shown up so well in his final piece of swinging work he looks like a horse with a massive future. He certainly grew when he was with Jason, and is now a big lad, with plenty of ability! If all goes to plan his owners will have a huge amount of fun with him!
Barry - back at The Elms on his holidays!
With him in that paddock was George, his half brother by Golden Horn. He has really had a growth spurt and has an awful lot of quality about him – Vegas has given us another nice one.
George - has a lot of qualitry about him - this is just a poor photograph!
Half brothers - Barry (right) and George try for the same blade of grass!
She was the next one to see, back from France and in foal to Nirvan du Berlais – she was her usual self – bossing the other mares about, and only having time for us when she was happy that the rest of the herd were doing what she wanted. She looked in fabulous order, and I am very excited that she is in foal to a French sire who seems to be very popular at the moment. His first 3 yr olds seemed to be well received at the sales last week – hopefully we have chosen right – it is not easy planning matings for SFV.
The Boss Lady - Savingforvegas.
As the rain started to fall we nipped into see Rockola who is summering at the stud. Despite the cold, wet blustery conditions she looked well, but was clearly intent on turning her bum into the wind and rain and staying as comfortable as possible.
Rockola
Louise was then kind enough to show us a few of the other horses she has there, from yearling fillies to a big group of mares and foals. As ever, they all looked great, and were a joy to see.
Love to see a nice bunch of mares and foals
It wouldn’t be a get together with Steve without a lunch – so we nipped down to the Red Lion in Yarldey Hastings for a quick lunch – busy is not the word – and we got the last table – it was only 12.40! A delicious sandwich – great service and highly recommended – no wonder it was busy – it was good!
As we had lunch I received a video of our latest addition having her first canter with Jamie Magee – the Lindas Lad 3 yr old is going very nicely, and Jamie is very happy with her. He will continue her education, and when he is happy with her, she will head on over the hill to Barbury Castle to continue to be trained on with the aim of starting her in a 3 yr old Junior Bumper in the autumn. There are only a couple of shares left now after Ed got in touch as I drove up to Market Rasen – we welcome him to NBR and wish him the best of luck with his new horse!
The trip to Market Rasen was mainly dry -the odd shower on the trip, but nothing of any consequence, Apple maps taking me across country to avoid a hold up on the A46, but I got there in good time. Mamoon Star looked really well in the paddock, and a plan was made to jump off handy on the rail and see if he could take a step forward from his previous run in Hereford. Fern missed her slot slightly at the start, and was a shade further back than planned, but she was soon on the rail. Sadly, MS was never really travelling for her, and she couldn’t get where she wanted with him - he would never quite make the moves that she wanted him to. Having jumped the last down the back really well – it looked like he was going to make his move, but once again he flattered to deceive, and Fern didn’t give him a hard time when his chance had gone. He has lost his way and will be tried in a bit of headgear next time – hopefully that will revive his interest. It was good to see Chris and Tim – who were held up on their way there – just arriving as the horses were at the post – sadly it was a long trip for them – with little at the end of it – but it was so nice to see them!
Mamoon Star in the pre parade ring.
Post Race.
Saturday – race report written for Mamoon Stars owners – I won’t spoil their weekend – I’ll send that out tomorrow.
Jason sent through a couple of clips of the horses that are summering with him. Cloud Dancer is out with Dino Bellagio, and Tintagel Queen is out with her girlfriends – they all look really well – and as mentioned earlier – will be heading back to their trainers at the start of July.
Cloud Dancer and Dino Bellagio
Tintagel Queen
This morning Will sent a clip of Ridin Solo, who is also summering very well – he’s another one that likes to be boss! I am really looking forward to seeing him step up in trip this season – I think we will get two ‘bites of the cherry’ with him – he is well capable of winning a couple over hurdles, and then switching to fences which should suit him even more and see him improve again – meaning he could be well handicapped twice in one season!
Ridin Solo
The remainder are all well and out in the fields. Intrepide Sud out with a big bunch of horses near Ravenswell Farm. Greyval at Fergals own place, and Itchy Feet is summering well by the lake at Warren Chase.
Royal Ascot next week – the topper dusted off and ready for another outing. Looking forward to a fun day on Tuesday! I hear it is not just me that finds the whole Royal Ascot website thoroughly infuriating – everything now has to be booked through it – and they seem to have found the very best of ways of making it the most confusing process ever! Anyway – we have got there in the end – lunch booked, and a driver sourced! Should be fun! It even looks as though the weather might just play ball!
