Gericault Roque will wait for Next Season

I have now been back ‘in the office’ for one week since returning from my honeymoon and I have been busy catching up in all departments. While it is lovely to get away, sometimes the extra work before you go away and then after you get back puts added pressure on!  Last Monday I went to Hereford with what turned out to be our only runner of the week, Pachacuti. He put a below par seasonal reappearance at Wincanton totally behind him with a good display to be second. He suffered a little interference from the winner at the last hurdle and then again on the run in which didn’t help his cause but he galloped all the way to the line. The stewards did look at the final stages but it was not enough to amend the result. Our horse is relatively inexperienced and he can improve on this next time, possibly with an even greater test of stamina.

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Barrier Peaks Wins at Exeter 

You will be pleased to hear I have made it back from the Maldives safely where Leanne and I had a lovely week away on our belated honeymoon. We got married on 5th July 2021 but Covid put pay to our original plans to get away and Leanne organised this trip to replace what we had originally planned. We had a fab few days mainly relaxing, eating and drinking with the odd bit of snorkelling mixed in as well. I kept an eye on things from afar but was able to switch off and re-charge the batteries.

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Well I am pleased to report that Leanne and I have made it to the Maldives and are on day one of our belated honeymoon. I’m sure you will be delighted to know that the islands are as picturesque as they are on the TV and the weather is sunny and hot!! We travelled over from Gatwick to Dubai before we changed for our flight to Male and the last leg to our island was by sea plane. While I am looking forward to a nice break I shall be in regular contact with the yard and keeping an eye on everything from afar.

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         Remastered Winner at Kempton
It has been a very busy Festive period and I am looking forward to hopefully having a quieter few days this week. On Boxing Day I was at Wincanton, followed by Kempton, Taunton, Newbury and Cheltenham. My days always start early but they have been even earlier than normal in the last few days and I have clocked up a few miles on the car as well! I nearly didn’t make Kempton on Wednesday due to getting stuck in traffic but we made it in the nick of time and Remastered was a fantastic winner. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions the past week with some good, some bad and some sad all mixed in but that is the nature of our sport and working with horses so we have to enjoy the highs and stick together and keep going through the lows. The staff have a half day holiday today for it being bank holiday and then working hours return to normal tomorrow. Everyone has been working hard to keep the show on the road and a couple of nice winners make everything worthwhile.

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  Panic Attack & Rosie on Christmas Morning

The last week has flown by, with the return of racing and Christmas festivities it has been a fun, action packed few days. I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day, however you celebrated. Mine followed the usual pattern of feeding the horses, back to the house for the kids to open their presents and then a return to the yard for riding out at 7.30am. Once the morning work was done we enjoyed a nice family lunch, a play with all the new toys before going back for afternoon stables which is a family affair. Father Christmas was very kind to the kids and they had a great day which is the main thing.

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     Christmas Wishes from Pond House

It has been a frustrating week since last writing with the weather wiping out all the jumps racing and therefore any runners from Pond House. I read an article in the Racing Post with Gary Moore venting his frustrations on the jumps season so far, saying it has been one of the most difficult since he first took out his licence in 1993. They, like us are having a good season on the winner’s front but the weather is just making everything difficult. We have had such a dry winter so far and then the frost has caused so many abandoned fixtures it is difficult for everyone involved. The work continues at home but it has been very difficult to make too many plans with so many question marks caused by the weather.

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           Jilaijone Winner at Fontwell

It was a quiet week on the runner’s front due to the weather but I was delighted to get one winner from our runners since last writing. Jilaijone won on stable debut at Fontwell for owner Sam Sutton. Sam claimed his three year old after he finished third at Angouleme over hurdles on only his second race of his life and what a buy he was for 11,000 Euros!! He is not the biggest but I don’t mind that as he has plenty of ability and a good attitude. He settled in well since day one and had done everything we had asked of him but I have to admit I travelled to Fontwell last Tuesday thinking we had it all to do in a tough race but I hoped we would be placed. How wrong was I!! On paper it looked a good juvenile contest with our rivals having both a higher level of form and prices tags to varying degrees as well. The Philip Hobbs trained favourite Mombasa had listed form in France and came with a hefty price tag of 250,000 Euros. Our fella was the outsider of the field but he travelled and jumped very nicely in behind and was going best approaching two from home. When Tom Scu asked him for more he galloped on strongly up the hill and won nicely. There was no fluke about this victory and I am looking forward to getting him out again soon. He will get a handicap mark tomorrow and so there are plenty of options going’s forwards, we could try this route or stick to another juvenile contest with a penalty.

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It was a quiet start to last week on the runner’s front with our first runner not coming until Wincanton on Thursday. I, like many of you watching did not see much of the actual race our runner was in as the course was shrouded in dense fog and vision was limited. It looked a good mares contest on paper beforehand and so it proved. Tom Scu was happy enough with Micronormous on hurdling debut and there will be easier opportunities for our four year old.

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  Only the Bold - 50th Winner of the Season

It has been another super week on the winner’s front for the yard, indeed we not only equalled but have now surpassed last year’s total winners for the season. Last season we had 47 winners but on Saturday, Only the Bold was our 50th winner of the current campaign. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both my owners and staff for all their support and hard work. Without them, none of our achievements would be possible and we are going to keep kicking and try to get as many winners as possible.

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 Ramses De Teillee part of our Winning Week

We have had 5 winners from 12 runners in the last week moving our seasons tally to 46 winners and I am pleased the horses continue in good form as we have plenty more runners coming up this week and the big races are now coming up thick and fast.  Our winners also took us over the half a million pound mark for prize money for the season which is a good milestone to reach as well.

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