Makes Sense
The winter jumps season draws ever closer, and judging by the share sales and enquiries this week it seems that many are getting excited about the upcoming winter months!
We went to see the horses in a few yards over the last seven days, caught up with trainers to discuss plans, and our 2 yr old got his first entries!
Monday – after letting us down slightly in Musselburgh two days previously, Dino Bellagio was on the naughty step! He had not really applied himself when headed and had not blown for long after the race. Donald and I had chatted on Sunday and decided that we would keep options open with him. Donald suggested that we should have his wind looked at, and I felt that as he had not overexerted himself in Musselburgh, we should give him an entry in Chester on Saturday, in the race that he won last year. It would be an option if he was still fresh by mid-week. This kept all options open – he could run in Chester if the ground was suitable, and more importantly, we could get a suitable apprentice (life not quite so simple since Charlie Maggs left Donald). DB would also be booked in to have his wind checked too – so both bases would be covered
Fergal O’Brien sent through a video update of Molly’s Lad, who is in great form, and causing havoc as often as he can! He is so fresh that he has graduated onto the hill, as he was likely to do himself and others damage on the round gallop. He is in such good order!
‘George’ our 3yr old homebred by Golden Horn continues on the round gallop, this is his first taste of ‘big school’ and every stage will take a little longer with him. With the weeks seemingly speeding by, one thing that needed to be done was to get him his ‘official’ name. As always this was opened up to his syndicate of owners, who, if they wished could put a name forward. I check the availability and then the group get to vote later in the week. There was a good bunch of suggestions, but quite how we were going to get ‘Hangover Horn’ through the BHA naming checks God only knows! Surprisingly the initial checks confirmed that it was available!
Tuesday – a trip down to Gloucestershire to see Molly’s Lad and ‘George’ at Fergal O’Briens and then on to Ivy Lodge Farm to see the team with Jason Maguire. It was an early start as I was picking up Alan from Ampthill, he had not been down to the yard for quite a while, so it was time we got him down there again. There was a good turnout of syndicate members with both horses, and it was lovely to have Debbie there to take some great photographs and videos of the morning.
Molly’s Lad out second lot, and after warming up on the round gallop, he did three up the hill, striding on with a winning Irish Point to Pointer the last time up. Fern rode him as usual, and was delighted with his work, saying that he would be ready to run in about a month. Fergal and I did discuss plans and agreed that he would start off over 2m for his seasonal debut, as he would likely be very fresh, and would need the run to get that fizz out of him. He will then step up to 2m4f which will suit him very well and see him at his best.
‘George’ out third lot – and cantered on the round gallop. He does it very well, finds it very easy and is really well balanced. He will graduate to the hill in the next couple of weeks. ‘George’ will follow a similar path to that of Molly’s Lad last season – he will be targeted at a 3yr old bumper in Aintree in November, and then the plan is to head straight to Cheltenham on New Years Day. It is very tough on young unraced horses to have them ready to run and then not running them and having to let them down and get them back up again. The reason we are targeting Aintree is because no matter what the weather is doing, the ground will always be safe there, and rather than aim him for another race only to find that the going is too quick and not running, it makes sense to go to a race where we are almost certain to run.
After the requisite amount of tea and cake a few of us headed over to Ivy Lodge Farm to see the team there. The three horses were paraded, and all looked fantastic. Fran and Sheridan had asked to go to Maguires to see the Blue Bresil 3yr old that we are currently syndicating. He came back in from the field on Sunday and was turned out beautifully. He has grown a bit since we bought him and is a fine big horse now. He really looks the part, and Jason is delighted with him. Before he went out for a short break, he had shown Jason enough to make him think that he has a really nice future – and he is looking forward to being involved in him. This new syndicate is a joint venture between Jason and me, and he will be very much involved in the horse’s career throughout. Not only will he be pretraining him, but he will also ride him in a piece of work when he goes into training and also be with us on the racecourse when he runs. It will give his syndicate of owners a fascinating insight into the preparation, training and riding of a young horse, all from the perspective of one of the very best jockeys to have ridden over obstacles. Once again, we are very fortunate to be able to offer our syndicate members something that will give them another level of the ownership experience, not only is Jason one of the best jockeys of a period of truly great jockeys, but he is also a wonderful horseman and a thoroughly good bloke. His input into this project will be fascinating and we look to have found the right horse to kick things off with!
Click the link below and read all about this latest syndicate – and if you are thinking about buying a share in something, this syndicate has to be the one – it will be a very informative journey!
https://www.nickbrownracing.co.uk/ForSale/8342/jason-maguire-syndicate
Floyd our homebred 4yr old has also come in from the field and is back in pretraining. He has also grown, as he had in the spring, and with the extra few months, and time to strengthen and develop, Jason is really looking forward to seeing what he can do. There is no doubt, he is a very good-looking boy, and given the way he moves, he has to have a future! Because he has needed time, he was not syndicated as a 3yr old as we usually do – as it would not be fair to his owners to be paying for him when he was always going to take time to get to the track. As I so often say on here, patience is key and always rewarded – we will see where we are with him towards the end of the year.
Cloud Dancer is in great form – and as they all do at Ivy Lodge Farm – he looks very very well. His pretraining is going very smoothly, and the plan is to get him up to 95% fitness with Jason as we had in the spring. He came through that without alarm so we are confident that he will do so again, and then he will head back into training. He is a talented horse, who will be chasing this season.
The Alan King Racing Club’s, John Harrison got an entry in an apprentice race in Wolverhampton next week. He will enjoy a return to the all-weather, and the step back up in trip.
Wednesday – Alan King, back from his holidays, sent through a clip of John Harrison working well – should he take up his entry in Wolverhampton he will go there in good form!
A quiet day closed with a fun night out with friends in Godmanchester for a Chinese. Cinta – highly recommended, really good food and wonderful service.
Thursday – another yard visit, this one – Olly Murphy’s, Warren Chase Stables in Warwickshire to see Jimmy Gatz. We arrived early – always good to miss the worst of the traffic. Jimmy Gatz out third lot. Olly has been taking his time with him, his sand gallop has been riding very deep through the dry summer, and he has been very careful with the workload of his string. Last year Jimmy was carrying a bit of ‘puppy fat’ all the way through the winter – this year he has lost that and Olly is very happy with him. There have been considerable upgrades to the facilities at the yard. The top yard has been tarmacked, the gallop has been totally overhauled, which included it being lowered around 3 feet, to help with drainage and wind erosion. You now look down on the horses – which took a little while to get used to – his gallop now resembles the Cresta Run! There have been new walkers installed and a new office for racing secretary, Teresa. It was good to see the yard continue to evolve, with significant investment and improvement over the summer.
Jimmy Gatz will be aimed at a maiden/novice hurdle in late October/early November when there is some juice in the ground. He has the making of a very good hurdler as he is a superb jumper! There is a single share left in him – hit the link and get in touch!
https://www.nickbrownracing.co.uk/ForSale/8143/jimmy-gatz
While with Olly, Donald McCain called to discuss Dino’s possible declaration in Chester on Saturday. He had jogged up sound after his race, but when he was returned to ridden work on Tuesday, he was found to be slightly sore in his back. This, coupled with the fact that it was proving tough to get a decent apprentice jockey for him, led to us making the decision to not head to Chester even though he won the race last year, and the ground looked like it was going to be ideal for him. As he would not be running, we decided to head him down to Ben Brain to have his wind tweaked. This will not hold him up for long, but the extra time will let his sore back settle down – 2 birds – 1 stone.
Thursday was an exciting day for the members of The Sharnbrook Partnership, which owns Penselwood as he got his first tow entries – a 1m Novice Stakes race in Kempton and a similar 7f race in Redcar. Great to have him ready to run – Sir Mark Prescott is very happy with him – and we will wait to see if he runs next week or the week after. Penselwood is a gorgeous looking, big 2yr old who has shown up well in his work. He will have a couple of runs this autumn but given his size and pedigree he is sure to be much improved next year as a 3yr old. He was purchased very much with a possible resale in mind. The Australians do like to purchase stayers from the UK and Ireland and are more than willing to pay handsomely for them. Penselwood’s sire, Saxon Warrior is very popular down under, as he shuttled there early in his stud career, and a couple of weeks ago his daughter Shezi Alibi added to her Group 1 tally, and this week his son Aethelwulf won a Group 3. Luke Morris rode Penselwood in a piece of work last week when we visited the yard and was very pleased with him, saying that he would be a nice stayer next season, but that he also had a nice bit of speed to him too. He could just turn out to be the type of horse the Australians would really like, and he could make a nice return for his owners. I have told readers countless times, what great value he is – and after Luke’s assessment of him after his work, I have decided to leave the remaining shares available for just 1 more week, and if not sold by next Sunday, I will be retaining them – it makes so much sense!
https://www.nickbrownracing.co.uk/ForSale/8274/penselwood
Voting on ‘Georges’ official name closed at 5.00pm – and the winner was Vegas Gold – a great choice, which incorporates a little but of Mum and Dad. Congratulations to Anna and Scott who put the name forward.
Friday – good to have a chat with Jason Maguire who sent through a video of Floyd back cantering on the deep sand. He is really happy with him and is looking forward to getting him up to full fitness and deciding on a path with him. He goes round the deep sand as if it is nice springy turf – and has an awful lot of quality about him!
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Maguire is also very happy with Cloud Dancer who he is confident will repay his owners patience and be winning nice races this season, and can’t wait to get cracking with the Blue Bresil 3yr old, who he describes as a ‘lovely horse’ which will be music to Phil’s ears – as he had just purchased a share in him. Phil came to our open day at Ivy Lodge Farm, and was really impressed with Ivy Lodge Farm, and was keen to get involved in a horse with Jason Maguire. Phil has been a client of ours for a long time now, and he has had a lot of success – we wish him the very best of luck with his new horse!
Saturday – another share sold in the Pethers Moon 3yr old in training with Donald McCain – he is going very well and will be ready to run next month.
With Alan up in Scotland, Robin sent through a couple of work morning videos. Nevada Samba getting fitter by the week – but Alan mindful that he will not be running on quick ground so is not pushing too many buttons with him at this stage. He is another one that will be ready to run in late October/early November.
John Harrison was declared in Wolverhampton on Monday afternoon and did a lovely piece of work ahead of that run.
Sunday – and Jason sent through a number of clips of Cloud Dancer and Floyd. Both cantering on the deep sand – Floyd clearly on great terms with himself – he really is a different horse to the one that was in training in the spring!
Around the remainder, Old Blue Eyes has started back cantering slowly, Ridin Solo is in good order and will be out again soon. A more galloping track and slightly softer ground will suit him better than Bangor, although he did get struck into behind last time out and was sore the following day.
At Barbury Castle – Ghost Dancing is working back up to full fitness and will be ready to run when I’d Go Maniac heads off for a winter break, at the end of October, after hopefully running in Newbury. Uhtred Ragnarson is fine after his run last week – and will be out again in 2/3 weeks.
Drop by next week for further updates – it is getting exciting now – the winter horses are nearing a return to the track and the 2yr old is very close to making his racecourse debut – if not this week, he should be running in the next 10-14 days.
