Blog Seventy Seven

Good Monday Morning

To start this week off, a thought as always; “Winners are willing to go longer, work harder and give more than anyone else!”

Sales season starts this week, our team has been in full study mode deep into the catalogues and as usual @pedigree_to_win Luiz Cunha is looking for the gems hidden in the sales books. Get in touch and get your orders in. Be part of the fun and part of the dream going forward.

Dreams Do Come True

Ebor Week didn’t get off to the best of starts for sure. We were a bit down on Monday morning after Ace had not ran as expected at Ponte. BattleofBaltimore then ran a shocker at Catterick. Andrew O’Connor, Catch Us If You Can’s racing manager, travelled up to see him by train & then with train cancellations he couldn’t get back home. So if your pockets were a bit lighter after Battle flopped, spare a thought for Andrew who’d had a 24 hour round trip & spent the night in Darlington - not that there’s anything wrong with Darlington - don’t want to alienate one of the Blogs regulars :-)

On Tuesday Silver Sword went around Side Hill and I knew we had him absolutely spot on. He moves so well. I’ve had very few horses that have moved like him in all his paces. He’d have made it as a 3 Day Eventer this lad I tell you- dressage the lot. I was mindful of earlier in the season when he went wrong on the morning of The London Gold Cup, but couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought of winning a race on Ebor Week. As I’ve said before you have to keep your emotions in control in this game. Tuesday was still a long way out until Friday.

Andrew was refreshed and raring to go and see Confederation run at Bath on Wednesday with a real chance of winning. Wouldn’t settle for anything less than victory. This  was  Gus’s race to lose ….
To his credit Gus broke well & I honestly thought the race was as good as won. Unfortunately it was not to be, as soon as he was headed he threw the towel in & ended up over 3 lengths behind the winner in 4th. No denying a below par effort and a winning opportunity gone begging. However, all is not lost - there’s races to be won with him starting at Brighton in September. Andrew & I may even be more adventurous & go for the Final he qualified for at Bath; though with my ‘sensible cap’ on he may well take the Brighton option where he’s got a decent chance of winning for us. Gus won ‘Best Turned Out’ - that’s 4 from 7 for our stable; and one we didn’t win was because friends of the yard ( Catrin & Jimmy) sponsored the race @ Ponte! This shows how hard everybody is working back at the yard.

Friday arrived soon enough and we all headed up the A1 to The Knavesmire. We took the scenic route through Towton ( the historians amongst you may have heard of Towton - The Yorkies slaughtered The Lancastrians there in the 1400’s -making the Cock Beck run red with the defeated Lancastrian’s Blood several miles down stream. Next time I’m at York I’m going to give myself a spare couple of hours and do the walk - stunning countryside. The Great Sam Hall trained at Towton as did his daughter Sally ( Aunty of my Landlord William Jarvis - small world!) . We arrive at York just as it started raining - my heart  sank as the course had been watered and rain on watered ground at The Knavesmire ( not called that for nothing - mire ) produces false ground. One thing that shocks me in the UK is the amount of watering that is done. What is wrong with good to firm ground?? Soon enough though the sun broke through and all was well at ‘God’s Own Country.’ We were in the last race of the day & I thought the day would drag. As it was, the day flew by, we had a wonderful dinner ( as they call lunch in Yorkshire) - the owners & breeders of Silver Sword are so enthusiastic and knowledgable about racing and horses, that I felt under no pressure that he had to perform on the day. In fact Linda said she’d be happy with 4th and told me just to ‘enjoy the day.’ I said ‘we’re not here for 4th we’re here to win!’ I managed to watch the Nunthorpe from the main stand with my parents amongst the Yorkshire racegoers. What a view and the ideal place to read the race. Most around me were shouting for Yorkshire’s Darling and defending Champion Highfield Princess but she couldn’t quite reel back Live In The Dream trained by Adam West at Epsom with Sean Kirrane doing the steering - giving both of them their biggest win by far. My phone was pinging and ringing all day and apologies if I’ve not got back to you all yet. My good mate Dave from Gainsborough had called several times I found out later! There were many of our syndicate owners in attendance and I was taken aback by the number of well wishers - people I’d never met warmly wishing us the Best Of Luck with Silver Sword. As for York itself ; Silver Swords part breeder, Andrea summed it up best after an hour on the course and well before Silver’s race “York isn’t the Ascot of The North; Ascot is the York of The South.”  If you’re a racing racing fan and haven’t raced at York then correct that wrong and get yourself to York. To top it all it’s a wonderful historic City. There ends the sermon on the attractions of York ;-)
The walk across The Knavesmire can be tricky but Silver was as good as gold and behaved impeccably in the preliminaries and moved beautifully down to post. Silver Sword took a bit of pushing to enter the stalls and some our team were worried he’d go in but I was not concerned and sure enough in he went in. The gates opened & Silver jumped no problem - I wasn’t worried but a few of our followers had a few doubts due to his antics earlier in his career. The pace wasn’t hot and Greg put Silver just behind the leaders in 4th early doors, Silver looked to be a little free but that’s his way ( that’s why going forward the better the race given a good pace the better he will be ), Greg’s got lovely hands and soon had him settled. The order didn’t change much as the field rounded the home turn and started for home- what a magnificent sight. Silver was travelling strongly but there wasn’t much room and Greg moved him left to find a gap just after the 2 marker. Silver then shot through the gap with the Turbo on and within a blink of an eye the race was won - he’d  took 2 lengths out of a good field - he’s some horse! Oh Hang On Silver thinks he’s done enough and is waiting for company - it was a long last furlong but to be fair to Silver, as his rivals got closer he pricked his ears and went again to finish 3/4 length clear of the second. I didn’t see Greg use the whip, did you? Silver could well be the type though that’ll stop when asked for maximum effort as he likes to show us who is The Boss! Our party of owners and breeders were elated and the York Racecourse looked after us showing generous hospitality. It was quite a rough race and Silver will have a few battle scars to heal before we start planning our next target. I have to thank Andrea And Jeremy Brereton for bringing in Martians Racing, Linda Mars and Richard Ware. They are the most wonderful owners to train for and I’m grateful that our yard is starting to attract some high profile owners. We have worked really hard to build the yard, and to train for wonderful people like we do, it’s a great privilege. The Cambridgeshire is an obvious target but that’s over 9F and he shows so much speed he could even drop to 7. He’ll stay 10 next season and don’t think he’s ground dependant as he’ll go on softer ground as he strengthens during the winter. Where he goes next is a lovely problem to have as all options are exciting. We’ll see what the handicapper makes of it on Tuesday then I’ll speak with Silver’s owners & breeders and make a plan in consultation with his work rider Gav and of course Greg. This victory gave me more satisfaction even than our winners in South Africa and Dubai - including at Group 1 level. It just shows, give us the Amo and we will produce the goods. Luiz is going through the upcoming Sales Catalogue’s - so get in touch if you want to be at York next year as an owner . ( Luiz bought Silver for11,000 Gns and don’t forget Expressionless  - he is another proper horse & he’ll hopefully be back in the Autumn - Luiz got him for 5,000Gns). If you fancy a syndicate as opposed to outright ownership  then get in touch with Andrew of Catch Us If You Can Racing or Jordan & John of Quest Thoroughbreds.

It is a quiet week runners wise . I’m having a couple of days away on The Algarve with our boys - the school summer holidays are virtually over & I’ve hardly seen them. Quality time with the family is important and I try to get the balance right.
We’ve got All About Alice running in the Amateur event at Kempton on Wednesday. We were lucky to get the services of the best amateur about Fletcher Yarham, he was in demand but Top Man that he is he stood by his word and stayed on board Alice. Fletch is on Citizen General today at Epsom for Ed Dunlop - whose yard continue in top form. Watch Fletch today and you’ll see what I mean. Epsom will hold no fears for this talented pilot. As for Alice she stays & has form on the track - I’m more than hopeful she wins as Fletch is worth several pounds.  

I am off to the Greyhound Derby in Ireland this coming weekend along with a trip to Gordon Elliot’s Open Day. I’m sure a few Guinness will be sunk and hopefully good few meeting with potential clients over the weekend.

We are open for the Henry Cecil Open Day in September. Tickets are available online and it’s a fantastic day out, we welcome you to join us.

Our yard continues to hold its own at a 19% win strike rate for 2023 and our 3 year old sitting at a healthy 40% win strike rate. Something we as a team are working really hard on. The numbers are there, and we hope that brings your support into the future.

I must say a HUGE thank you to my team, who behind the scenes, don’t stop working hard and giving their all to keep the horses in top form. There are good and bad days, but they always turn up and give their all. The horses are always our first priority and their care and health is our main focus.

Finally - Don’t  be afraid to dream BIG, we did and look at the result!

A closing thought for todays blog; “I realized that my strength was being different!”

Stay updated daily following our social media and check back next Monday for another blog.