Blog Forty Six

Good Monday Morning

As always a thought to start; “life is tough, but you must be tougher!”

A great mindset for a Monday. It’s a day I’ve taught myself to love and get stuck in and set the tone for the week. By the time you read this, the horses will have long been fed breakfast and the weeks routine will be in place, setting the high standard we expect for the week.

Confederation is our only runner this week. He either goes to Kempton on Wednesday or Lingfield on Saturday and then goes off to have his winter break, just as all the other horses step up the pressure after all having had a winter break. It’s still fairly quiet for us as we chip away and build into the summer which should be fairly busy for us, all being well.

Our famous cat and assistant trainer, Barney continues to provide us with all the entertainment and love that can be expected of a cat. He sleeps all day and keeps us awake all night! He took the gelding well and is back to himself albeit still enjoying sick leave at home.

We have a few really experienced lads/lasses joining our team over the next week or two as we continue to grow the yard. High quality staff is scarce in the modern world and we have worked really hard on building up a fantastic team going forward to get the best out of our horses and give them the best care.

I may as well give my 2p worth on Frankel and I’m not going to talk about any other horse, but, Frankel is the greatest ever in my opinion. He did it at 2,3,4 in England on the toughest of race tracks against the toughest competitors and the Guineas of all races seals it for me. If you have any doubt, go and watch the Guineas again. The Rowley Mile is tough, go and try walk it, you’ll struggle. He basically broke them and galloped it flat out and spread them a furlong on fast ground. I don’t think you’ll ever see that again. There were also 13 other great wins but that one for me was the greatest and I still feel not talked about enough. As for any other horse rated anywhere near him, I’m surprised to say the least and I don’t think there will ever be another Frankel.

It’s been an interesting few weeks for South African Jockeys. The current champion jockey Warren Kennedy has moved to New Zealand and been firing out Group 1,2,3 winners weekly while Craig Zackey has joined him in winning Group races this past weekend. Collen Storey last week rode a winner for The King and Godolphin in the UK both trained by John Gosden. Fransie Herholdt rode a lovely 2 winners in Dubai for Mike de Kock this last weekend and Lyle Hewitson and Luke Ferraris continue to ride winners in Hong Kong week in and out. There are loads of others scattered all across the world doing well at the present time. Many years ago, Muis Roberts was Champion Jockey in the UK as well with Doug Whyte and Basil Marcus multiple champions of Hong Kong. The current champion apprentice Kyle Strydom, nephew of jockey Pierre Strydom who’s ridden 5500 winners, may be joining the UK riding ranks for the summer. Watch this space.

Our syndicate Catch Us If You Can Racing has shares in two lovely two year olds and they will be fun to be involved in for the up coming season. Shares are available in a Starspangledbanner colt Battleofbaltimore at £350 per 2.5% and £75pm all in as well as Empress Lulu a Muharaar filly, no upfront cost and £75pm all in. These are great deals and we would love to have you involved.

The Tattersalls February Horses In Training Sale is also just around the corner and we will be looking for a horse in training that can run straight away for anyone interested. Contact me and join the yard.

A reminder to save the date for our spring Open Day on Sunday the 16th of April. We would love to meet you and have you join us for the day.

I have to say as an Arsenal fan, last nights game was fantastic, both teams played well and Man United pushed us all the way, but for once in many years we are looking like league winners. What a game. Exciting as ever!  

To close today, a quote I saw the other day and had a good laugh but nonetheless true; “A wise man once said, Bee’s don’t waste their time explaining to flies that flowers taste better than shit!”

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