Blog Sixty-eight
Good Monday Evening
To start the week off, a thought as always; “Never let success get to your head..never let failure get to your heart..”
Royal Ascot
The week started off frustratingly for us as Confederation just missed out on getting in the Amateur’s race at Lingfield. I was at Royal Ascot on Tuesday with my good friends and ownera Richard Walsh, Michelle Fernandes & Jordan Hopkins the Bloodstock Agent. I was lucky enough to bump into cricket Legend Brian Lara, it was worth going just to meet the Great Man let alone watch the top class racing close up. It’s these meetings we aim to be having runners in. Not that there’s anything wrong with the All Weather tracks or the lower grade turf racing - they’re a vital building block of racing’s pyramid. Join us and we’ll do our best to get you to Ascot next year.
Talking of cricket this is a unique style of Test cricket England are playing. You could argue it’s not actually Test cricket, Bazball as it’s now known seems to be popular with many but the declaration on Day 1 by Captain Ben Stokes was baffling. The Australians played conventional Test cricket and fully deserved their victory in the First Test. The teams look evenly matched but if Stokes is going to continue in this haphazard approach then The Ashes will be staying in Oz. Only sport can get the emotions flowing to such a degree. Put the news on you’ll be depressed within five minutes; the best medicine pick up the Racing Post and see what’s happening in the sporting world. If you are involved in racing as an owner the experience and emotions are magnified exponentially. Have a look at the syndicates in racing and if you choose ours get in touch with Andrew of Catch Us If You Can Racing and Jordan or John of Quest Thoroughbreds.
Thursday didn’t get off to the best of starts when we eventually received confirmation that Silver Sword wouldn’t make the field at Royal Ascot - we were 4 pounds shy in the handicap to get in. That his form was franked at Ascot didn’t improve my mood much as we drove to Lingfield. I really felt Silver was in the form of his life and expected a big run on Saturday. We only had Mr Fayez running at Lingfield as Confederation just missed out in getting into the Amateur race. Mr Fayez, Taryn’s favourite horse in our yard was 0 for 25 before getting off the mark under a well timed run from Greg Cheyne. He’s the solider of our yard leading babies and it was so rewarding seeing him finally win.
Makuri made her second appearance on a racecourse at the July Course on Friday evening. Ridden by Kyle Strydom she showed definite signs of ability before weakening late on after racing freely early doors. She’ll be OK. Kyle is busy riding out and getting the occasional ride from his employer Roger Varian. Roger had two winners at Royal Ascot including the exciting King Of Steel who backed up his Derby second with an impressive win in the King Edward VII which is basically the Ascot Derby.
On Sunday we had two runners at Pontefract in the lucrative SkyBet Sunday Series. Travelling up the A1 I was confident we’d have a double; my first in the U.K - I once had a treble in South Africa from 3 runners. I had a fair few doubles back home - the best when winning a Group 1 and a Group 3 on the same day.
Silver Sword won impressively showing we can indeed look from a mile to a mile and a quarter races for the rest of the season. Silver Sword was ridden by Greg Cheyne who is on quite a roll and will surely be getting more outside rides after again demonstrating on his first visit to Ponte that U.K. courses do not phase him one iota.
Faro didn’t follow up his recent Chester win
; it’s possible I backed him up too quickly but I thought he was ready to win again unfortunately he didn’t do himself justice & our first U.K. double will have to wait . As for Silver Sword, this was his best performance to date - not because of the drop back to a mile but the simple fact is that he is still improving and learning with racing. We’ll never know for certain what would have happened if he’d ran at Ascot in the Golden Gates though I’ll go to my grave convinced he’d have won!
We have All About Alice running for us at Leicester on Thursday over a mile and a half. I’m still rather perplexed over her debut run for us at Wolverhampton where she went from travelling like the winner to gone within a couple of strides. That was too bad to be true - the handicapper must have thought so as well because he left our mark the same. We really want to see her running through the line then we know she’s going in the right direction. We’re lucky in our yard that we have owners such as Rachel Rennie who owns Alice that understand racing and accept on occasions horses run poorly when expected to go close.
We have Ace Rothstein in the Northumberland Plate. Owned by Angela Stokes who is mad keen to have a runner on Plate Day. We’ve been looking to buy another horse suitable to run for Angela on Plate Day and came close a few times but failed to seal the deal. Ace will run in the Consolation race for Angela this season and next year I will do my best to ensure we have a couple of runners for Angela on Plate Day. Angela, like Rachel love their racing and it’s great to have such racing enthusiasts as owners in our yard. Angela I’m sure would rather have a winner at Newcastle on Northumberland Plate Day than at Royal Ascot such is her passion for Plate Day.
Looking further ahead we have a couple of 2yo’s who should be ready to make their debuts in July. We’re cracking on with them as well lets face it the we’re pretty much half was through the turf season.
I have to add, as a professional trainer, I don’t buy any horse without the professional advice of our pedigree expert @pedigree_to_win Luiz Cunha. His expert breeding advice stood me well in South Africa and has already paid off in England with our first two yearling purchases for £5k and £11k having 3 year old form of 1-1-1-2-1 and both in the up with bright futures. We are the team to join at the sales in the autumn and will only grow from here with your support.
Our Greyhound “Buddy” Catch My Tail bolted up again on Sunday evening. He’s been so much fun to have and I can’t wait until he retire home with me.
Catch Us If You Can Racing is a great syndicate to be part of and we have shares available in Wannabeawallaby who is by Australia out of Yeah Baby by Danehill Dancer. He’s bred like Silver Sword and Expressionless and I highly recommend getting involved in a horse with this profile. Contact Andrew and get involved.
Our upcoming yard is still looking for a brand to team up with our brand and sponsor our yard and build both brands into the future. Get in touch.
To close todays blog; “The one who falls and gets up, is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure, but rather fear not trying!”
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