North and South
We start this week with some sad news.
Yesterday we learned that one of our long-time syndicate members, Jeremy Bartlett has sadly passed away. Jeremy had been a member of NBR for over ten years – and hugely enjoyed his days at the racecourse with his friends and other syndicate members. Jeremy was a quiet man – always tuned out immaculately, and ever polite. In all the time that he enjoyed owning horses with us, there was never a difference of opinion – or a ‘Why are we going there?’ or ‘Why is he riding it?’ He just enjoyed the journey, and a day out at the races. Always smiling, especially when you got him on his favourite subjects of racing and real ale – Jeremy was an absolute Gentleman – a truly gentle man, and it was a pleasure to share some wonderful moments on the track with him celebrating winners. Jeremy had been ill for a number of months, but in his last email to me he was, as ever very positive, but sadly on Friday he passed away – he will be sadly missed, especially the phrase that he loved to end conversations, emails or messages with – ‘All dream intact’. RIP Jeremy.
Jeremy (Second from the right)
We covered a bit of ground last week – and there were some ups and downs – not just on the road network, but in the performances on the track.
On Sunday Ferg and I had a chat and decided that while Intrepide Sud was in such good form, we would head him down to Taunton on Tuesday for a handicap hurdle there. IS has been tricky to keep healthy this winter, he has had one bug after another, and although the ground was sure to be slightly too soft for him, we had to grab the chance to run while he was fit and ready. This would be a run to get him back in the swing of things as we head into the spring and onto his favoured sound surface. He had been very keen on his last start, and we needed to try a couple of different things, so that we could maximise our chances when he gets his ground. With the lack of suitable right-handed opportunities for the rest of the month, and the ground in Taunton being about as good as you can get through the winter we took the decision to declare.
Debbie was also a busy girl, and as I typed the weekly news, she (obviously a lot more quickly than I was) wrote a follow up piece to the first instalment of her experience on the Irish Stallion Trail last month. ‘Part Deux’ will appear on these pages next week, along with a charity auction of goodies from the trip, with proceeds going to The Injured Jockeys Fund.
Monday was a busy day in the office. As you will have possibly read in the racing press over the course of the last few months, there has been a bit of a shake up in how syndicates are set up – in particular their bank accounts with Weatherbys Bank. With the threat of account freezes now looming over us – it was time to finalise things. This was the start of a process that would continue throughout the week – with meetings, and lots of phone calls and emails. If I am honest it would end up amazing me!! Amazed at how two of the biggest entities in British Horseracing Authority, the BHA and Weatherbys Bank, who have offices in the same building in Wellingborough, cannot plan and implement systems, crucial to the future of the sport – TOGETHER! It amazes me how you can be bounced about form one to the other, find out that one of them does not really ‘care’ what processes the other are duty bound to implement by the Financial Conduct Authority, and have not amended their costs and charges as a consequence. In short, despite having lengthy chats and emails all week, and even using my 25 years experience in Syndicate Management, to find a ‘work round’ of the problem that would ultimately be to the huge benefit of all syndicates, both existing and new, which was agreed with by the team I was talking to, only to be knocked back by the highest office, the whole process ended up costing £1000 – a cost that was not needed, and one that will have to be paid by new and existing syndicates with more than 10 members. And one that I will have to pass onto my clients.
Whilst bouncing around from one office to another in a building in Wellingborough I did get the Owners Badges sorted for the members of The Chicheley Partnership who were heading to Taunton on Tuesday. We, as we always seem to be, were oversubscribed once again – but thanks goes to Max Kendrick who allowed a couple of our members through under his horse, Ted’s Friend. This led to the first confusion of the week – when one member, on receiving a message to tell him that his badge would ‘Be under Teds Friend tomorrow’ called me that evening to say he didn’t know a Ted and therefore had no idea who his ‘Friend’ was!! The confusion was soon cleared up – but it would not be the last interesting entry a syndicate member would try to make onto a racecourse last week!
Nevada Samba was due to make the short trip from Jason Maguire’s, Ivy Lodge Farm to Barbury Castle on Monday, but he had a very small abrasion that had puffed up on Sunday, and Jason was unwilling to send him in that state – he would get his first sight of ‘Big School’ later in the week.
With two entered to run on Wednesday, on Monday morning we were tracking declarations at a couple of tracks. Greyval was entered in a mares handicap hurdle in Ludlow, we had been discussing this entry for a while, and decided to pop her in there to have a look. Her last two runs over 2m5f and 2m4f have both seen her running on strongly in the final stages and we are confident that she will relish a step up to 3 miles, but on the other hand we are keen to keep her to mares company when we can – so it was very much worth the entry to see if the race cut up at declarations. It didn’t, and as a result we decided not to run there, instead she will step out of mares company, and take on the geldings over 3m in Ascot next Saturday. Fergal, Johnny and I are keen to see her over that trip, and as she has run well in open handicap company in the past, we thought it was the right step to take.
One that did get declared was Red Sash Racing Club’s, Ridin Solo, who would head back to Sedgefield where he has finished second and third on two previous starts, always running very well. This race had not been the plan, as mentioned last week – the intention was to finally step him up to 3m in Bangor On Dee on Friday, but while I was in the yard, and watching the horses exercise on Thursday of last week, I noticed that this race in Sedgefield looked like a winnable opportunity, and asked Donald to pop him in. Come Monday morning, we had decided to declare Ridin Solo anyway – having gone through the race in great detail we felt that it was a great chance for him – even though it was to be run over 2m4f – was this our chance of seeing him get his head in front over an intermediate trip? It looked like a great chance to do so – so he was duly declared with Brian Hughes in the saddle.
On Tuesday we headed down to Taunton to see Intrepide Sud have his first run for a couple of months. I collected Debbie on the way as she was keen to try out her new light weight camera on the racecourse for the first time, ahead of a trip to the middle east next week. It would not be the easiest day to take photographs, we arrived in damp overcast weather, which soon became very damp – wet weather! Having hoped that the ground would have dried back to help IS it went the other way, and we knew that it would be tough for him before he set out. Having been way too keen on his last start in Wincanton we were trying a hood for the first time on him just to try and get him to settle and give himself a chance of finishing off his race this time. In addition, Johnny would be going back to holding him up off the pace, to help the cause as well. IS looked fabulous in the paddock – and went to post nicely. He jumped off in rear as planned and walked through the first flight – he rarely pays them too much respect! From then he was always on the back foot – never really in a rhythm or travelling and he was pulled up on the home turn when detached. For a horse who has had issues with his breathing – he just couldn’t handle the testing conditions and that had led to the reason for him pulling up. Although we had no great expectations of him winning this race, this was a disappointing result – he will now be got well again – wait for some better ground in March and head over fences – which will see him at his very best. Hurdles have always been a stepping stone for this gorgeous big horse, and we are all looking forward to seeing what he can do over the bigger obstacles through the spring and summer months!
Thanks to Debbie for the wonderful photos
One of us had a good afternoon – Debbie delighted with her new camera and even managed to snag a couple of free accessories for it from a colleague at the races!!
It was a long trip down to Taunton and back, and when I got home the work was not over! As I would be heading up the A1 to Sedgefield early on Wednesday morning, I needed to get the badges for Rockolas owners sorted for Huntingdon where she had been declared on Thursday. A big group wishing to attend, thankfully we could accommodate them all – which is where the second ‘identity crisis’ of the week appeared – more on that later!
Chevelle returned to Ravenswell Farm earlier in the day – she has had a month off at Ivy Lodge Farm after being diagnosed with a small back issue – she has returned to training looking really well and will be back on the track in 6-8 weeks.
Wednesday - I was on the road at 8.30am on my way to Sedgefield. It was a very good trip up. As ever, plenty of time was spent catching up with clients and trainers. There was a big ‘schooling’ morning taking place at the Chaddesley Corbett point to point track that morning, and it had been very well supported. Olly Murphy alone took 15 horses there, a mixture of young and old, unraced bumper horses through to seasoned chasers. One was a client’s horse who was having an away day before making her racecourse debut in a bumper in the next few weeks. She went very nicely, trainer and client both happy! Another one to make the trip was Itchy Feet who had a hunt round over fences with stablemate Butch. Itchy will have a crack at a few Hunter Chases for the rest of the season – and reports are that he thoroughly enjoyed his first spin over the bigger obstacles for a while! These schooling races are commonplace in Ireland, and are something I have long campaigned for in this country. I even approached one of the big sales companies a few years ago to see if they would get involved – but as ever in the UK – nothing was done! This schooling morning was so well attended, with trainers, jockeys and owners all there to see the horses work – it is surely something that needs to continue now! There are more mornings like this one scheduled, hopefully the powers that be will see what a boon they are – and continue with them.
I arrived in Sedgefield in good time – a gloriously bright and sunny day!
Ridin Solo, as all the horses are from the McCain yard, was beautifully turned out and looked terrific. Brian would adopt his usual tactics, bounce out in front and use his experience and jumping to good effect in this field of maidens. Grabbing the inside rail he did just that. His closest rival in the market taking the opposite course and going very wide. There is no better man around Sedgefield than Brian Hughes, and we were all confident that he was in the right place, despite a lot of the other jockeys in the race seeing it differently. As they turned for home at the top of the hill, Brian headed to the stand side rail, which if you have ever watched him ride there over hurdles in Sedgefield, is where he always goes if he can. Grabbing the strip down the rail, he headed for home, two good leaps at the last two put it to bed, and Ridin Solo got his head down and ran right through the line. He deserved that – he has been so consistent this season – with form figures of 3,3,3,5,1 – never being beaten more than 7 lengths – and all over intermediate trips! As Brian said on his way back in, he needs more emphasis on stamina now– but it was great to get his head in front for Club members! His jumping is so good, he is now likely to switch to chasing, which will see him in an even better light. He will start his chasing career over 2m4f on a stiff track, before stepping up to 3 miles. Donald and Brian both really like Ridin Solo and think that he has a really nice future as a staying chaser – just the sort of horse that Donald excels with. Club membership is now £50 for the rest of the 2024/25 season – this buys you a capital share in Ridin Solo and covers all training costs through to June 20th 2025, after which there is a renewal fee of £49 for the next year (2025/26) Shares make great gifts, what says ‘I love You’ more than a share in a racehorse on Valentines Day?! Head over to the Club website www.redsashracing.co.uk and grab yourself a share! You won’t be ‘Ridin Solo’ on the 14th!!
Shortly after watching RS break his maiden, it was good to see Mister Cessna put a poor UK debut behind him and run a cracking race to be a close second to a very talented juvenile hurdler in Ludlow. I had purchased Mister Cessna from his owner breeder in France, last year before selling him on to new owners with Fergal O’Brien – his first run in the UK in the Grade 2 Finale Hurdle in Chepstow on Welsh Grand National day was very disappointing, but Fergs were certainly under a cloud then, and I am sure that the very deep ground was not in his favour – this was much better, and he is a horse to look out for through the spring!
It was a good run home, plenty of congratulatory calls!
Thursday – Rockola heading to Huntingdon, but before we got there it was more back and forth between the BHA and Weatherbys Bank – for two institutions that are at the very top of British Racing they do a bloody good job of making things very difficult! My trials and tribulations carried over to the afternoon – where I had scheduled a couple of meetings with certain individuals at Huntingdon. Sadly, my recommendations, although well received on one level did not pass muster with the ‘higher ups’ and we were back where we started – I and others still do not see why – but there we are – there would be one more call to the BHA offices in London on Friday morning, which would result in the same outcome! I was not doing this for my sole benefit – what I was trying to achieve would have been for the good of racing and in particular syndicate formation and management – the only area of growth in UK racing – trust me if they don’t sort this issue out between themselves (BHA/Weatherbys) this will no longer be a growth area and you will see a reduction in new syndicates being formed!
Nevada Samba headed off to Barbury Castle mid morning - he is a lovely horse who we believe has a very big future!
Huntingdon had frozen overnight and had to have a couple of inspections before being passed fit to race at 10.00am.
Rockola running in the 3m1f mares handicap hurdle. A winner of her last 2, she looked sure to relish the step up to this staying trip. She looked fantastic in the paddock, and Tom Cannon would adopt similar tactics to those that had proved successful the last twice. He would settle her in mid div, and come through off of the home turn. Rockola, upped in trip and at this slightly slower tempo was always just over racing a little, not stupidly keen, but always ‘In Tom’s hands’ as we say – exerting too much energy. As the pace quickened, she came under pressure, and having wasted that vital energy through the first half of the race she had little left for the finish, eventually finishing a distant 6th. Not what we had expected, the frost coming out of the ground had left it very tacky and which was hard work for a small mare who likes a sound surface. She will have her usual break between races, and be back next month when there will be much more suitable ground on offer for her. She has not finished her winning yet!
There was a large turnout of The Lavendon Partnership to see her run – so many in fact that I had to ‘borrow’ a few badges from Alan King who had his own horse running in the last. Alan would not be there and kindly said we could use as much of his badge allocation as we needed. I emailed Charlotte his PA with the names of those that would be collecting badges from Alans allocation for his horse Uhtred Ragnarson – which she duly arranged. I then sent a message round to those members that would be collecting their badges on Alan’s allocation to let them know that they would be left under Uhtred Ragnarson. For those that don’t know Uhtred Ragnarson is a fictional character from the ‘Viking’ series The Last Kingdom, so you can imagine the look on the face of the lady on the O&T desk when one of Rockolas owners, having misunderstood the message, arrived proclaiming himself to be Uhtred Ragnarson himself!! He had been practicing the name all the way on the train – and had even considered adding just a hint of a Scandinavian accent to add authenticity!! The lady on the desk remained confused and simply gave him a racecard and badge in the end!! I think she was fearful that he would brandish his axe!!
Friday, having failed with my negotiations with the powers that be during the week – I completed the process of aligning all of our syndicates with their new guidelines – costing myself a lot of money in the process! My problem is not with what we have had to do – it is with the charges that have been applied – these charges were set up for an entirely different scenario and have been brought into play by the actions of the bank – some of which in my opinion were unnecessary. The inability of the BHA and Weatherbys to foresee this issue and amend their structures before having to implement these changes is a little beyond belief! The BHA tell me they will be altering their policy later this year – but I will not be getting a refund!
Alan cheered me up by sending through a couple of videos - And She Was working very nicely on the grass of the Barbury mile – she goes very nicely and will make her racecourse debut later this month. He also sent through the first ‘Barry’ update – Nevada Samba having a leg stretch in the school – he will give him a couple of days to settle in and then start him cantering on Monday.
Saturday – great to chat to Josh Moore, although he was anything but in a good mood. He had withdrawn all of his intended runners for the day – the horses are just not 100% at the moment, and to run them would be the wrong thing to do. We had a good long chat about everything, and the good news is that he reports that Cloud Dancer is one of the team that IS in really good order. He has had an easy time of things since his last run, and when I saw Steve, one of the yards travelling head lads at the races on Thursday, he had said how fresh and well CD was. Josh confirmed it – and also talked over some possible race plans for him. His end of season target is the £50,000 Challenger Series Stayers final in Haydock in April – he will have one run between then and now, and will go there a fresh horse – I am leaving it to Gary and Josh to plot their way there – and I am confident with what we have in mind he will have a very good chance come April!!
Cloud Dancer
Of the rest – Old Blue Eyes is cantering away up at Bankhouse, this soft ground isn’t for him – he will be out again next month – another run in a bumper will tell us where we go with him in the near future – one more run in a nice one this term or put him away for a hurdles campaign in the autumn. His half brother Dino Bellagio is his usual self! He will be out again in the next 10-14 days – he will be dropped in trip, have a change of headgear and possibly a change of tactics – he needs to realise that he is out there to go to work, not play around and enjoy himself by doing very little! If that doesn’t result in any sort of encouragement, we will have to look at our options with him - one of which is possibly switching him to the flat. He is SO quick at home – and has so much raw talent that it would be wrong not to try him on the flat – he won two bumpers, which have both worked out very well – I watched the horse that was second to him in Doncaster dot up in a novices hurdle in Taunton this week – easily accounting for a 118 rated rival and carrying a winners penalty! So we know that Dino can do it – perhaps a return to racing without hurdles in the way will see him put his best foot forward – it’s something to think about – and could be a good bit of summer fun!
Tintagel Queen is enjoying her first few days of retirement. She has moved from the main yard at Warren Chase to the bottom yard – and will remain there until she is sold. Thanks to the team who were very accommodating in letting John pop in last week to give her a pat and a polo and say thankyou and goodbye. I have not found a buyer for her yet – but there is interest – although I am keen for her to stay in the UK – she has a wonderful pedigree, and I think she would be a nice addition to the broodmare ranks for UK breeders!
There has been a great uptake of shares in our latest syndicate. Will Kinsey sent through these videos and pictures of the latest filly to join the team – by Masterstroke out of Ma Councha she is a half sister to Hidden Beauty who won two for us, and who at one stage we thought would go right to the top – she was THAT good before suffering with atrial fibrillation on her second start. They are both half sisters to the talented (but ill fated) Faith du Val, who was a black type performer. This filly is a well made, strong individual who we think will be ideal for the junior national hunt flat races in the autumn. She is back in work now – will join the rest of the team at Ivy Lodge Farm in early March and looks to have all the attributes to make up into a lovely jumps mare in the future. She qualifies 100% for the GBB bonuses - £10,000 for winning a bumper - £20,000 foe winning a hurdle race and £30,000 for winning a qualifying chase! There are just 25 shares available – well over 50% are now reserved – they are available to both purchase and lease – but only shareholders that purchase the shares will be eligible to receive their share of any bonuses that she wins. Full details will be on the For Sale Page this coming week – if you would like to reserve your place just get in touch! 07909 518902 or email nickbrownracing@gmail.com
Don't miss your chance to grab a bonus or two!
A quiet week next week – no runners until the weekend! Have a good one!
