Enjoyable Owners' Day

It was our annual Owners’ Day at the yard on Sunday afternoon and we had a very good turnout with well in excess of 150 people in attendance.  Our guests had the opportunity to tour the yard and meet the horses and sit down for a magnificent roast beef dinner in our marquee (as well as have a tipple or two!).  I would like to thank all of the staff who gave up their time to help out and ensure that the day went without a hitch, as well as Sally from local catering firm Relish for the wonderful meal.

Incredibly after all of the moaning I have been doing lately about the amount of rain we have had, we were treated to a lovely sunny day (I know, a sunny day in the summer - barely believable!) and the event really couldn’t have gone any better.

I thought that both of our runners in Saturday’s Summer Champion Hurdle at Perth ran creditable races.  Hunterview (fourth) and His Excellency (fifth) both picked up prize money in this fiercely competitive handicap and were only beaten around five lengths, giving hope that they should be upto winning again in the near future.

We enjoyed a nice winner at Stratford this afternoon (Monday) when Premier Dane (pictured right) won over fences to make it two wins from two starts since joining the yard.  He was taking advantage of a mark only 2lbs higher than for his initial success over hurdles although he probably didn’t have much more in hand.  He is entered again in a couple of races at Ffos Las on Thursday or Friday and could turn out again, although I am not sure he will be particularly well-treated under a penalty for today’s success.

The next runner from the yard will be Ashbrittle, who takes in the staying handicap on the flat at York on Wednesday.  Graham Lee will take the ride and I have been meaning to give him the leg-up on one for some time since switching codes to the level.  Graham has had a great time of things since taking out his flat licence, notching 45 successes so far this year – he has lost none of his strength despite the fact that he can do 8st8lbs.  Ashbrittle will be having his first start since finishing eighth in the Ascot Stakes where he met quite a bit of trouble in running – Paul Hanagan who was on board that day thought that the interference probably cost him a place, so I will be hoping for better luck in running on Wednesday.

Talking of York on Wednesday, I am sure that all eyes will be on Frankel as he makes the eagerly anticipated step up to ten furlongs in the Juddmonte International on Wednesday.  It looks like being a thorough test with St Nicholas Abbey (proven over twelve furlongs) and two Ballydoyle pacemakers in the field, as well as Frankel’s three parts brother Bullet Train.  Personally I can’t see Frankel doing anything other than improve for the extra couple of furlongs and I would love to see a performance that sees him ranked as the greatest performer since the International Classification was first published.

It looks like being something of a bumper day on Wednesday as we will certainly have a few runners at the evening meeting at Newton Abbot.  Personally, I love the atmosphere at the Devon track and there is bound to be a good turnout with all of the holidaymakers present, so much as I would love to see Frankel again, I think I will be heading off to my local track.

We will be taking it easy over the weekend as we have no entries at the sole jumps meeting at Cartmel on Saturday where the ground is already soft, while there are no National Hunt meetings at all on Sunday.  I say “easy”, but there is still plenty of work to be done – the horses continue to arrive back and the yard is filling up quickly despite there being plenty more to arrive back yet!  I am certainly not complaining though, I would sooner be busy than idle any day of the week.

As always, you can keep right up to date with all the latest news from the stable by visiting Chester’s Daily Chat…