'Too Tight'
The week ended up being on the quiet side. I had a couple of yard visits in mind – but one trainer has asked me to put some figures together for him before I go, and as I have not got round to that yet – I postponed that visit until Wednesday. We came very close to adding to the team this week – but I may have just got a little too clever for my own good – for ‘clever’ I could have typed ‘tight’ – as I tried to save a few quid – when I should have just gone with flow and followed the path that we had been working on for a week or so. More of that later!
Monday – Maria’s Flame came back into work – when I was in at Ravenswell last week I had a chat with Fergal and Connor about her return and left it up to the pair of them as to where she would start work. Connor had a few other horses in at his yard that were returning to work, and she could join in with them – or she could go straight to Ravenswell and start her work there. In the end they decided to start he off with Connor – where she would do her first few days trotting, just getting back into the swing of things, and then when she is ready to start cantering, she will head back to Ravenswell and join the rest of her pals there. If she isn’t back with Fergal this coming week, it will be early the following week.
One that is back cantering at Ravenswell is Greyval – nice to see a video of her cantering on Monday morning – she looks in great shape, and we are all very much looking forward to seeing her back on track in the late summer/early autumn. It is fair to say that we all feel that we left a couple of wins on the table at the end of he previous season – a fact that Fergal is constantly reminding Johnny Burke about! Johnny is ‘still having nightmares’ about those two outings as well, but on the upside – she looks to be on a very handy mark to start her upcoming campaign, and if we are very clever, we may just be able to land a nice one with her first time out!
Tuesday – Jason Maguire on to chat about ‘Gatsby’ – who we had agreed would get turned back out in the field as he had completed his education for now – he had done everything needed of him at this stage – lunged, long reined, backed, cantered, cantered upsides and schooled over hurdles in the arena. On Tuesday Jason revised his plans – he felt that the horse was still carrying a lot of condition, which in one way is a good thing as it shows that he has taken his work well – but on the other hand, he felt that he could do with losing a few pounds before he went out and gorged himself on grass again. To that end, Jason decided to keep him in work for a couple more weeks and take him down to Tom Georges a couple of times to let him swing along upsides. It will also give Jason a chance to do some more schooling with him – not that he needs it – he loves the job and is very good at it! It is always nice to get a video of our horses working at Ravenswell – with Tuesday a full work morning – I was delighted to see a Whatsapp notification from Ferg – less excited when I watched two horses work – as neither one was ours! I did thank him for the clip, and said it was nice to see other members of the team in such rude health – which they are – after a slow start (by their own high standards) to the season – they have really taken off this week – culminating in a win in the big summer hurdle in Market Rasen – with Castel Gandolfo – a very shrewd piece of training and placing!
Wednesday was a quiet day – office bound – not great planning as neither the Open golf nor the second Test Match started until Thursday – but at least there were no distractions!
Thursday – down at Ivy Lodge Farm we have witnessed the benefit of being a good student. Finbar (Falco x Molly Childers) and Floyd (Falco x Savingforvegas), as mentioned last week – have spent their entire lives together. Having been with Maguire for 6 weeks – having been the model pupil, Floyd is out in the paddock enjoying his days snoozing in the warm sunshine – whereas Finbar – who has been, shall we say, a little less amenable is still in work every day! He is now going the right way though – he is now cantering on the sand gallop, and although he still likes to have a little ‘argument’ with whoever is in charge – he is learning that life is so much simpler if you do as you are told! On Thursday he progressed on to having a little pop in the lose school, which he did very well!
Gatsby had been through the lose school a couple of weeks ago and had moved onto being ridden over poles and barrels in the arena. This week he took another step forward and progressed onto jumping an easy fix hurdle. He is such a natural – and really enjoys the whole ‘jumping thing’ – he looks tailor made for the National Hunt juvenile hurdles next season – but is very likely to start off in bumpers first,and like all off the youngsters we start off as three year olds – we will head to Cheltenham in January with him if he proves up to the task!
We like this horse a lot – and it is his love of jumping that gave us an idea – I can’t go into too much detail at this stage – but we have been working on adding to the team – and as you know – I really like the sire The Grey Gatsby, I feel that his progeny just love to jump a hurdle, and it meant that I have been stalking a particular horse for some time in France. On Thursday I had the chance to buy it – and failed! At the time I felt that I may have been able to get it a shade cheaper than what it was on offer for – but in not ‘striking’ when I had the chance – and subsequently bidding the owner a little less – I may have ‘upset’ him slightly, and he has gone very quiet! I have not given up, and in the last couple of days I am really kicking myself for, as Alan King said, ‘being such a tight arse’! Hopefully we can get a deal done in the next week – I do know the owner wants to sell – whether he wants to sell to me anymore is another matter. Fingers crossed!
The form of the Ravenswell team has really picked up this week with three winners and a second from their last seven runners, and it was after the first of these in Worcester on Wednesday when I caught up with a trainer in good spirits. We chatted about the three in work at the yard – he is delighted with Intrepide Sud – who is 100% over his colic episode and is cantering away nicely - the bill arrived this week - I was less thrilled with that! . Fergal is really looking forward to seeing IS this season – and like us all, can’t wait to see him over a fence, although Johnny Burke, who loves the horse tells us there are races to be won over hurdles with him before he switches up to the bigger obstacles. We know he jumps fences fine – he is a point-to-point winner, and always schools over fences at home, as he finds hurdles just a bit of a small inconvenience!
When I asked Fergal how Mamoon Star was – he replied ‘I wish you were here every day and could see what I see him doing’ – there is no doubt that MS is in good form – physically he is in great shape, and his work is very very good. Johnny has been doing plenty of work and schooling on him and feels that he still has all the enthusiasm for the job, and hopefully we can get him back enjoying his racing when his next run comes around.
Friday – Auditoria has an entry in Worcester next week – a 2m7f Amateur Rider handicap hurdle, just the 53 entries! It is amazing how many horses the jumps racing fixtures are attracting – the numbers are massive – over 200 horses entered in Worcester next Thursday. I will be speaking to Olly tomorrow to discuss her running – if she does, she will be partnered by Champion Amateur James King which will be a massive plus! Auditoria has always been prone to being in season for longer than normal, and when she is – she is a different mare! Always a little ‘sassy’ – she becomes even more so – and it was clear on her last run in Newton Abbot, that it really affected her performance. As a result, she has been treated by the vet, and her cycle should have been supressed, meaning that she can hopefully show her best again.
It was good to catch up with Donald McCain on Friday. He has started to canter Dino Bellagio – it was a case of having to! As we all know, Dino can be ‘exuberant’ to say the least – which is a polite way of saying he can be a handful – and having been back in work, trotting away for the last couple of weeks – he was obviously feeling in fine fettle and in good terms with himself when he ‘buried’ his regular pilot Charlie Maggs last week. Charlie is the only one that sits on Dino at home, and he does a really good job with him as he can be tricky to say the least – with Dino, showing that he had a little too much energy and was not channelling it in the right direction, Donald was forced to get him to use up that excess fizz and get him cantering! It is easy for me to say – as I don’t have to ride him every day – but it was good to hear that Dino hasn’t changed and that he is enjoying being back in full work again! As you will all know – Dino is a little horse that we have always held in the highest regard -and we are looking forward to putting the trials and tribulations of last season behind us and kicking on this term – all being well, he will take his syndicate to some very nice places this time around. Donald likes to start his horses slowly – all trainers have a different system – and the team at Bankhouse have a spell on the walker and are not ridden when they first come back in from the field. Old Blue Eyes is back in and will be ridden again soon – he was back in a week or so after the rest as we felt that he just needed a tiny bit longer in the field. Donald believes he is has an awful lot of ability, and there was no need to get him in early, so that he could contest a bumper before the ‘big guns’ come out later in the year. Donald believes he can hold his own wherever he shows up, and so he left him on holiday for a while longer! He is another exciting one! Remember – if the last remaining share is not sold by the end of July – it will be withdrawn from sale, and I will keep it myself! Donald is really happy with Ridin Solo – there will be a full update for Red Sash members in the members area of the website next week – along with the next episode of the ‘In Behind’ feature. To join the club head over to www.redsashracing.co.uk and grab a share in Ridin Solo – a share is just £79 for the whole of the 2024/25 season – and not only will you get a share in a horse that is very well handicapped over hurdles, and will be even better over fences later in the year – but through our Members Area we will introduce you to plenty of ‘behind the scenes’ features that will shine a light on the less well known areas of the racing and bloodstock industries. Sign up now – you get over £30 of free Tote bets as well! Existing members can renew membership via the link that was emailed at the start of July – anyone missing the link please let me know and I will resend it.
I spoke with Josh Moore in the afternoon – he and wife,Phoebe are enjoying their new son Charlie – who Josh describes as ‘good as gold’ – He is sleeping well, and proving to be the perfect baby at this stage. Josh’s hand is also healing after he had to undergo surgery when he broke the top of his little finger when rushing to the hospital to see Phoebe and Charlie. Thankfully they didn’t need to put any metal work into his finger – but he did say it was ‘fxxking painful’! Josh is really happy with Cloud Dancer who will start cantering next week. He looks very well and is moving very freely – something that he didn’t do for a lot of last term. He suffered with his feet a bit too – but there is no sign of those issues this time round and Josh is really happy with him. I won’t get to Cisswood this coming week – but will get down there the week after.
The wind was playing havoc with the golfers in Troon, and the Test Match in Trent Bridge looks like an evenly matched affair.
Friday night was saw the first of 6 episodes of ITV’s docuseries Champions Full Gallop air at 9.00pm on ITV1 – it has been eagerly awaited and would hopefully be a programme that engages the wider public in our great sport. I couldn’t wait until the scheduled start, so I watched the first two episodes on ITVX earlier in the evening. It is not a simple thing for me to appraise, as I am not the ‘target’ audience, and I did try and view the first two episodes ‘through the eyes’ of a newcomer to horse racing as this was who it was made for – and I think it did a decent job of showcasing the sport and its participants to that demographic. In my opinion a better programme is the Horsepower docuseries that was released on Amazon Prime a couple of years ago, but which is now being shown on the BBC with all episodes available on the iplayer – do catch this – it is excellent!
It was an early start on Saturday – and a trip to Barbury Castle to see Rockola and the Lindas Lad filly in training with Alan King. I was not sure to make it earlier in the week – but having not been to a yard all week – I ended up making the trip down. It was good to see Debbie and Amanda – Amanda over visiting from the USA. As I was not sure to be there, I had to cancel those that wanted to come and see the Lindas Lad filly canter, but I can report that she looks great – and having had a chat with Alan yesterday, the plan is to keep her tipping away gently right through to the autumn, when she will make her eagerly awaited debut. He is really pleased with her, she has a great attitude and he is very happy with the way she goes about her work – with the recent heavy rains – his grass gallops offered some really nice going on Thursday and he had got his group of ‘babies’ out for their first taste of cantering on the lush turf – they loved it, and the Lindas Lad filly was full of herself, and proved tough to pull up!
Lindas Lad filly warming up
Cantering with her 'year group'
Alan is also delighted with Rockola, who has really done well for her summers break – she is like a different filly this term – she has grown and filled out and is moving really well – on Saturday she gave the youngsters a lead up the all weather Sharperidge gallop and was seen striding out really well. She will be a fun filly for this season – where we will strive to keep her away from the worst of the winter ground – her best form is on a sounder surface, and it was only her guts and determination that saw her placed in three of her four starts last season on unsuitably deep ground. She will contest mare’s novice hurdles this season and is likely to start at 2m but step up to more middle distances as the season progresses.
Rockola warming up in the school
Rockola leading the babies in a canter
Rockola is moving very well
On her way back in
The Boss
Mamoon Star was entered in Uttoxeter on Friday – at this stage, as long as the ground is suitable, he is an intended runner – Johnny will ride, he will encounter 2m7f for the first time, along with fixed brush hurdles and a set of blinkers! Hopefully the change up can do the trick with him!
Jason Maguire sent 'Gatsby' down to Tom Georges gallop on Saturday morning - just to swing along upsides on an 'away' gallop. Another step along in his education. He did it very nicely and Jason said 'he goes well' - he will have another trip down to Toms in the coming week and then head off on holiday.
After a morning at Barbury Castle it was back home for an afternoon of sport – Golf – that looked horrendous – add heavy rain to the winds of the first two days – and to be fair it looked brutal – great to watch – but awful to play I’d imagine! The cricket was fun too – the West Indies finally putting on a show and getting a first innings lead. There was some good jumps action on the racecourse. Market Rasen’s big summer meeting – as mentioned Fergal took the valuable Summer Hurdle with Castel Gandolfo – the result of a well-executed bit of training and placement, and Olly Murphy took the big chase with Sure Touch under Harry Cobden – stable jockey Sean Bowen electing to ride one for his father Peter, (finished third) – I would imagine that was not a nice feeling for Sean – to see his arch rival landing the big pot on a horse that he would have had first choice to ride!
The remainder are all well – Tintagel Queen cantering away – and going nicely, Itchy Feet came back in with the bulk of the team at Warren Chase and has been trotting around the arena this past week – he will soon be out cantering on the sand gallop.
Later today I head up the A1 again – Doncaster Summer Sale tomorrow. Horses in training, and national hunt stores. The dispersal of the Chris Giles horses will be a highlight, there are sure to be some of those that make huge money – we could see the hammer fall at £500,000 and beyond! It will be fun for sure!
Later in the week I hope to get to a yard – and then hopefully catching up with plenty of you at the races on Thursday and Friday!
England going well in Trent Bridge – the leaders are praying for a dry and less windy final day in Troon!
With a bit of luck, we will have added to the string by this time next week – if we have – the horse will be heading to Fergal O’Brien, and if you would be interested in joining a new syndicate at the yard – please let me know. 07909 518902 nickbrownracing@gmail.com
