Blog Sixty-Six
Good Monday Morning
Starting the week and this wonderful Monday morning off, a thought; “Being lazy is disrespectful to the people who believe in you.”
We fully expected to have winners last week and were left scratching our heads after our two well fancied runners were out of the money at Wolverhampton on Monday. Gold Medal’s run was perhaps explained by the muddling pace of the race; nevertheless he ran too flat for me and just didn’t pick up like the Gold Medal we all know & love. He came back with two really deep cuts which also wouldn’t have helped and he will be back.
We still had All About Alice to look forward too ; her first run for our yard and we thought we’d found a very winnable race for her . She travelled well for much of the race and must have traded short for you in running punters but just as I was expecting her to pick up and win the race her stride shortened and she was quickly out of contention. It is always disappointing when a horse runs below form but I’m lucky in that my owners understand racing and horses often do run no race for whatever reason. Our journey to Wolverhampton won’t have helped matters ( though I’m reluctant to put that as the sole reason why they underperformed) the M6 was closed and the detours were hardly horse box friendly to put it mildly . We’ve a new travelling head lass who drove the box to Wolves and back - Mae Steel, passed her test with flying colours . Welcome to the team Mae!
Mr Fayez ran for us on Friday at Brighton - I stayed at home as we are so busy in the yard much as missing Derby Day with Silver. Dylan Goulding and Mae Steel took Fayez and he ran his usual honest race and finished a well beaten second ; never looking like winning. I do hope we find a race for him as he deserves to get his head in front. He’ll be back in handicap company at Brighton next week.
Battleofbaltimore makes his debut for Catch Us If You Can Racing at Brighton on Tuesday. Billy Loughnane takes 3 pounds off - he’s worth that and more. Billy is well odds on to be a star of the future in the saddle given he can keep his weight under control. You never know fully what to expect from a debutant but our lad works well and certainly has ability. He’ll run well. The Brighton race is strong enough for a race of this nature with several likely types. However we run, he needs to start his education on the track.
Alpine Springs has a choice of races - she’ll struggle to be in the money in whichever race she goes for. . We’re still learning about her and hopefully we’ll be wiser which route to take with her. She’s most likely got an appointment for a wind op before her next run so is doubtful although she has entries.
Faro de San Juan is an intended runner at Chester on Saturday. If Chester was to catch one or two of the localised thunderstorms this week we wouldn’t be disappointed. It’s time for Faro to show his true colours ; we want him back on his Doncaster form on his first run for us.
Silver Sword has come out of his race well . The handicapper has put him up 4 pounds - we have to take that on the chin ; it was half expected as the impressive winner Torito was from Clarehaven Stables & the handicapper never takes a chance with a Gosden winner & put him up 10 pounds . We very much favour The Golden Gates for Silver - he goes to Yarmouth this week for a stalls test along with a couple of our 2yo’s.
On Saturday we had a productive gallops day , we had two lots on the Al Bathathri Polytrack( the Limekilns is in desperate need for rain before I send my troops on there); watched by their eagle eyed owners and the Quest Racing Manager our Bloodstock Agent Jordan Hopkins. Jordan is the man to go to if you want to join Quest and Andrew the Catch Us If You Can supremo; contact them if you want to join their syndicates or even purchase your own horse outright. @pedigree_to_win Luiz Cunha shortlists all the purchases on pedigree ahead of time. We are in the process at the moment of adding to our stable and hope we news of another exciting acquisition next week.
The seasons going fast ; in America the Triple Crown is over and here four of the five Classic winners are known . That reminds me I heard a great old saying last week ‘ the fittest horse wins the Guineas , the luckiest the Derby and the Best The Leger’ . How times change , Derby winners of the past would without fail be aimed at The Leger and then to prove their quality take in the Ascot Gold Cup the following season . Now a Derby winner is more likely to step down to 10f than go to Donny for the final classic . This years Derby hero was sired by Deep Impact , the Japanese super sire himself won over 2 miles - in Europe a winner of staying races would be dismissed as slow and be seen as a National Hunt sire and not given the outstanding book of mares Deep Impact covered . Sadly our loss . The Leger is a race I’d love to win one day ; it is after all our oldest Classic .
On a personal note, I’ve decided to make some time to start running again and get some sort of life back, after putting in everything I keeps personally can to get the yard up and running from nothing.. I’ve also purchased an ice bath for some cold therapy, so look out for a fitter newer trainer over the summer!
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Finally a Big Congratulations to Manchester City who after several near misses have finally been Crowned European Champions. You don’t always get what you deserve in sport but City for a long time the Best Team in Europe have got their names, deservedly in the record books.
To close todays blog and a thought to send you into the week; “If you stay in bed, if you stay on the couch, if you stay in your comfort zone, if you only do what is easy, your life will be hard.. but if you do what is hard, if you get up, if you grind, if you are relentless, if you work as hard as possible, when other people are slacking off, you life will be easy!”
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