Sunny Days are Fun Days!
A dry week! Well, on the outside – Royal Ascot meant that plenty of us were ‘wet’ on the inside! A great weeks racing, even though there is a distinct lack of hurdles and fences – saying that (and this is not a dig at a certain W Mullins), but how good was it to see the prizes handed around a bit – the 35 races were shared between 24 different yards with Aidan O’Brien winning 5, and Brian Meehan, Kevin Ryan, Karl Burke, Richard Hannon and John Gosden all bagging a couple each. Willie even managed to get in on the act and trained a winner on the first day as well!
Monday was an office day – more horsebox business to be done – there is still considerable interest in new and second hand boxes – which is keeping me busy!
It was also time to dust off the top hat and tails again for another Royal Ascot. Always a fun week – and we would be heading down on Tuesday to watch the best days racing of the meeting.
Four if us headed down to Ascot on the Tuesday morning – the ladies looking fabulous as always! I had booked us in for lunch at Numero 7 on the course – where we tend to grab a late lunch and use the table as a base for the rest of the afternoon – they don’t seem to mind as long as we keep ordering bottles of wine – which we did of course! From our base in the restaurant, it is a short walk out to see both the horses in the paddock and the grandstand to watch the races – it works well for us. The food is excellent, top chef (and one of my favourites) Francesco Mazzei on the stoves, and it was good to see Frankie Dettori looking so fresh and well in ‘retirement’. We drank a lot of wine – it was a good day!
With top Italian chef Francsco Mazzei
Good to see Mr Dettori too!
Wednesday – a slight touch of ‘wine flu’ for me. I managed to leave my phone in the drivers car on Tuesday evening, and was very grateful when that was returned to me on Wednesday morning! I always get a bit edgy without the phone, I worry that I am not contactable in case of an emergency with one of the horses, which may necessitate a decision from me. Thankfully no such drama this time!
It was good to get a few videos through from Jason Maguire. There are currently three 2 yr olds being broken in at Ivy Lodge Farm at the moment. On Wednesday he sent videos of Floyd and Finbar having a lunge. Floyd is now lungeing in full tack – and has moved on to being driven in long reins around the yard and seeing new places. Finbar has been slightly less cooperative shall we say – and is taking a little longer. He will be fine but does just like to let his feeling known!
Jason long reining Floyd around the arena
Finbar making his feelings known!!
After an afternoon watching Royal Ascot on the TV we headed into Northampton late afternoon, and headed to Nouvo for a bit of early dinner before going around the corner to The Derngate to see comedian James Acaster. Nouvo once again excellent – a bit more Italian food for the week – this time a mixture of small plates – a lovely way to sample a few different flavours – it is ‘Italian Tapas’ – and is well worth a visit – a word of advice though – order each course as you go – as the dishes are served as they are cooked, they often don’t arrive at the table in the order that you envisage. You can get a couple of your main course options before your starters. They don’t mind you ordering each course as you go – it will spread the evening out a bit for you.
The tickets to James Acaster, a kind gift from friends, and he was excellent. He is a very sharp whit – he has to be as his latest show encourages hecklers from the audience! He was extremely funny, and I would encourage anyone that has not seen him to do so!
The good thing about heading out in late afternoon and spending an evening enjoying some excellent comedy, was that I did not have to endure watching what by all accounts was a dismal performance from the English football team! I was spared that torture at least. The cricket team doing slightly better in the T20 world cup – but I think they will feel that they should have secured their spot in the semi finals by beating South Africa – they should still do it!
On Thursday it was great to get a video of the Lindas Lad filly from Alan King. She has been broken in with Jamie Magee and has been a real pleasure to do. Jamie is delighted with her – she has been doing plenty of steady cantering around his sand and grass gallops and has done everything very easily. She is a filly with a lovely pedigree, and the size and scope to go on with, and having successfully completed her time with Jamie she will now head over the top of The Ridgeway to Barbury Castle stables where Alan is keen to kick on with her and prepare her for Junior Bumpers and National Hunt Juvenile Hurdles – starting off in early October.
With her move into training now very imminent, it was time on Friday to get the syndicate agreement out to all of the 23 people that had reserved a share in her. There are 2 of the 25 currently left unreserved – so if you would like to grab one of the last two spaces in this fun syndicate let me know. The filly has broken well – has a lovely way of going about her and has a fantastic pedigree to match. She is a half sister to no less than 7 winners – and remember she qualifies for 100% of the GBB bonuses on offer for winning bumpers and hurdles – (£10,000 bumpers, £20,000 hurdles). Call me, text me or email me to book one of the last two spots – 07909 518902 – nickbrownracing@gmail.com No capital outlay - £130/month includes all costs – no hidden extras!
A gorgeous filly with an oustanding pedigree! Get involved!
Auditoria took advantage of a nice morning and spent it in her paddock. Olly sent a video through – she has come out of her race well and will be out again in the next couple of weeks. Sadly, she will have to compete off of a 3lb higher mark for finishing second in Southwell. She is now once again 6lbs higher than her last winning mark – you would have thought that the handicapper would have been slightly more lenient. The way I see it – the winner was winning her third race in a row, and the handicapper has overreacted to her ‘getting the better’ of him three times and put her up 8lbs, and in doing so has had to put Audrey up 3lbs, when she should have remained on the same mark – or been raised just 1lb.
Saturday – a fantastic update from Jason Maguire – he had sent us through the videos of Floyd and Finbar earlier in the week – and on Saturday he sent through comprehensive footage of the The Grey Gatsby 2 yr old that is a week or two ahead of the other pair. This horse is very nice – he has come on leaps and bounds in the last two weeks and is now cantering away perfectly up the sand gallop. The work he is doing has really brought him on, he has lost weight, and started to grow – he is still very much ‘up behind’ ie. His backside is higher than his withers, but that is how horses grow and develop, and when his front end catches up with his bum, he will be a fine big horse. He really goes well up the sand gallop and will now be introduced to an obstacle or two before heading back out to the field for the remainder of the summer. We like him a lot!
The Grey Gatsby 2 yr old - limited shares available! He's another nice one!
Saturday night – a 50th Birthday party – great to catch up with a lot of folks we have not seen for many a year! Lots of reminiscing – a fun night – reminders of some of the antics we got up to in our late teens and twenties – they we fun times – lord knows how we were not arrested!
This morning – a video of Itchy Feet enjoying his summer break arrived in the inbox! He looks fantastic and is summering well. Time really does fly – in 8 days time, many of the horses will be heading back to their stables – rested after a few weeks in the field. Next week will be spent coordinating the transport back to their trainers – and the whole things starts again. The miserably wet winter made life very tough for us last season – with more orthodox weather patterns this winter we should have a lot more success, and I am really looking forward to getting going again!
Itchy Feet enjoying his summer holidays!
Apart from Auditoria, Mamoon Star is the only other one of the team currently in full training – he is well and will be out again next month. Having dropped to 102 – he will go down in grade and sport some form of headgear when he next appears – hopefully that will see him bounce back to form.
The remainder are enjoying their final few days of their summer holidays, and all are well.
