Blog Eighty 1
Good Monday Evening
To start off a busy Monday; “Most people just want to be in the result and not the process, and it’s in the process where you realize who deserves to be in the result!”
The Dream Lives On
We had a huge announcement today, that we will be the new trainer in Phantom House Stables. We take over the historic yard later next month when William Jarvis retires. While it’s all exciting for us, it’s also sad for the trainers ranks to be losing a great trainer and person like William Jarvis. I alway envy the photos on the wall of the lovely races he’s won including training Grand Lodge who was the dam sire of my first Group 1 winner. Williams staff’s tears this week has been testament to the gentlemen he is and great person he is to work for and thankfully for me, we are hoping to keep them all if they would like to stay. We are very excited to be taking over such a beautiful yard steeped in history and not only the home of Lady Bowthorpe recently and Grand Lodge as said above but also a Triple Crown winner, so it’s a lucky yard where horses do well, as we’ve proved this year with our small string.
We have over 30 stables to now fill, so join us at the sales and be part of all the fun too be had!
We will be in Ireland from tomorrow until Friday at The Goffs Premier Sale, so get in touch with us. @pedigree_to_win has a great shortlist and we will be putting the miles in to select the best horses. Join us.
Next week Tattersalls Book 1 begins and we hope you continue to support us and be part of the action going forward.
Back to the week and the dreams…..
No sooner had I written last weeks Blog & the heavens opened. Thunder, lightning ( what a show from Mother Nature) you name it - The Lot. The fun & games started at about 2 O’Clock - the storm must have passed right over us @ HQ & my first thought was “I hope this has missed Sandown” ( with a few expletive”s thrown in for good measure). Dawn broke & we were down to Warren Hill with our First Lot when the news filtered through that Sandown had had 20mm of rain which changed the going from on the better side of good to soft at best. On the plus side I noted that there was good drying wind for the next 48 hours and there was no further rain due until early afternoon of race day for Silver. After long discussions with Silvers owners & breeders we collectively decided to let him run unless the ground became bottomless as was the case with Goodwood earlier in the ‘summer.’ Between second and third lot I checked the declarations for the Fortune Stakes and quickly realised this was a deep field that was well worthy of Group 3 status at least. It was quite an honour to see Silver’s name amongst the entries of such highly rated horses. We had to improve a stone to be placed I reckoned.
On Tuesday Silver had his final spin up Warren Hill & I couldn’t have been happier with him, he was ready to run the race of his life. Gavin backed up my view that Silver was ready to run the race of his life.
Driving to Sandown on Wednesday you could see the clouds building up & it soon became apparent it wasn’t if it was going to rain but when ……
My spirits were lifted on entering the course to see a good turnout from Silver’s owners and breeders whose confidence in Silver was infectious. Over the next few hours we discussed all the different scenarios & all the while the ground was going against us under the incessant rain. It would have been easy to pull him out but Silver’s sporting owners & breeders agreed with me that we should let him take his chance. It was a proud moment for all concerned to see Silver walking impeccably behaved in the paddock with a few drenched racegoers looking on. Silver took some loading; he must have been close to “ last chance saloon ‘ but he eventually decided to enter the stalls. We were drawn on the outside and as the gates opened he jumped slightly to the left meaning we couldn’t take the position we were hoping for & ended up trailing the field. They just went a steady pace though I could see Silver was travelling well within himself & was reasonably happy as the field entered the short but stiff Sandown straight. The field came up the middle of the track due to the rain softened ground & Greg decided to tack over more to the stands side to make his move. For a brief moment just over 1 out I thought he was going to engage his turbo kick and pick them off but it wasn’t to be - probably due to the class of opposition & the by now heavy underfoot conditions. He finished his race out well enough in 5th beaten just over 3 lengths by Chindit. Yes the same Chindit who was runner up the Gr1 Lockinge. This was undoubtably Silver’s best run to date. Silver’s race and days like at Sandown are why my team & I work so hard.
The sacrifices my family & I have to make are far higher than when I was flying. I’d often be at home then with my loved where as now we rarely see each other. Of course it’s our choice and as the business grows with further success we’ll see more of each other & I’ll be able to delegate more to the growing team. We actually managed to go for a family meal out this week - Rose & Mango in town - a cracking curry house. That’d be the first time we were all out for a meal since going out in a group Celebrating Silver’s Ponte Win.
We were all delighted with Silver’s run and after the race discussed future plans. He could go up anything from 5 to 8 pounds which will probably mean handicap’s are out of the equation though of course he could run in the Cambridgeshire off his old mark where he would be the proverbial good thing. A dry spell between now and the end of the month will lead to some very interesting discussions……
We could drop him back to 7 in the Listed Guisborough Stakes at Redcar in a couple of weeks or go up a furlong in the Gr3 Darley Stakes here the week after. Silver has proved he can handle Group company horses and will be campaigned as the ‘proper horse’ he is . There’s even a race at Santa Anita on Breeders Cup weekend- 9f at Santa Anita will suit him perfectly. His owners & breeders are adventurous and we’re going to have some fun with this lad.
Of course first we’ll see how he comes out of Wednesday’s exertions; it could well be he’s put away for the year. Likely starting point next season would be then either the Gr2 BET365 Mile at Sandown or the Listed Queen Anne Trial @ Ascot - what’s it called , begins with a P - Paradise Stakes I’ll go for - I’ve all Winter to find out! I’m still getting used to the many additions to The Pattern since I was last here in the U.K. . The Lockinge was mentioned as well . We’ll see!
Silver was our only runner though we took 2 fillies for a stalls test here @ HQ . Jordan is keen for Charlotte’s Luck to go to Saint-Cloud on the 5th October over 1,500m for newcomers - Kyle was on her @ HQ for the stalls test. Gavin put Cerulean Summer ( she goes to Chelmsford for her debut run ) through the stalls. Both fillies will have learnt from their experience at the track. Worth following..
We run Clipsham Gold on Monday @ Leicester. The ground is too soft for her but she will be stepping up in distance soon.
We’ve decided to go for the big pot with Ace Rothstein in the Stayers Final at Nottingham on Tuesday. It’ll take a PB from him to win even arguably to be placed but he’s in a good place & will run a decent race. It’s a tough race with top weight.
Alice will run @ Southwell on Thursday. Alice is high enough in the handicap on what she’s done on the track though her last run was her personal best & if she improves again she can run into a place. Morgan Cole takes the 5lbs off.
Saturday is Cambridgeshire Day & I’ll be joining a few owners there for a drink without a runner.
We run Makuri on Sunday at Ffos Las and she will enjoy the ground.
Before I start on the Open Day, I must thank Joanne and her team for arranging a fantastic open day for us. Joanne recently joined the team and made sure it all worked like clock work and we had a great day showing hundreds of racing fans around. So on to the actual day..
On Sunday our yard was open for the Henry Cecil Weekend. We had a busy morning showing about 500 people round our yard. The highlight for many was @pedigree_to_win Luiz’s masterclass on pedigrees. Luiz was in his element sharing his knowledge with his captivated audience. A big thanks to all who helped make the morning a great success.
We were surprised by Angela Stokes and Claire Foster with cupcakes for all our guests with our horses face and names on them, this was a wonderful surprise and the kind of wonderful relationship we have with our owners.
Our sponsor Bloomsfield’s Raceline Horseboxes joined us for the Open Day and we had a great display of Horseboxes showing the public how horses travel to and from racing. We are excited to partner with such a wonderful brand and we look forward to many more safe miles on the road. I can highly recommend a Bloomfields Raceline Horsebox to any trainer out there.
To close today’s blog; “Sometimes it takes 10 years to get to that 1 year that will change your life, so keep going!”
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