Last Of A Legend – 1stat Plumpton on Monday (27th February)
She showed a really good attitude to come out on top in a tight finish, a very gutsy performance, and it was great for her and Hot To Trot Racing. Hopefully, now heading into the Spring she can keep progressing and give them plenty of fun. We are going to look at a Challenger Series qualifier at Chepstow and that may qualify her for the valuable Challenger Series final at Cheltenham in April. It was Ben Bromley’s 20th winner and he now loses his 7lbs claim, so it was a nice milestone for Ben to reach, and he’s back amongst the winners after an unfortunate absence over the Christmas period.
Goudhurst Star – 4that Plumpton on Monday (27th February)
We knew the track would be sharp enough for him, we thought going up in trip we might get away with it, in what was a valuable amateur’s chase, however, it all happened too fast but he did stay on. We will find him an opportunity on a more galloping track and possibly go for headgear, perhaps blinkers, and see if we can get him to be more competitive.
Beat The Bat – 1stat Chepstow on Saturday (25th February)
We were delighted to see him confirm the form from his debut at Wincanton. The runner-up who was 10 lengths behind him that day, we beat by a length and half on Saturday, he had a 10lbs claimer on so it was quite a lot of weight to give away. We were delighted that he got his head in font, Bryan Carver was pleased with how he had progressed from his first run and we’ve got a nice dilemma on our hands whether we run him again, or look forward to next year when we will be going novice hurdling. He’s done lots of schooling already, if we were to run him again in a bumper we’d probably go to the Grade 2 at Aintree, we will do what’s right by him and see how he is over the next few weeks.
Dubrovnik Harry – 6that Chepstow on Saturday (25th February)
We were hoping to try and qualify him for the Pertemps Final, however he didn’t quite manage that on his first try over 3miles. Two out, he looked like he would finish in the first 4, he didn’t quite last home. His season obviously hasn’t gone as hoped, and it’s hard to put a finger on it. We’ve not had him at the level he showed last year, and we can’t really pinpoint anything at the moment. He’s still a relatively young horse, so we have no immediate plans, we will be going back novice chasing next year.
Boothill – 3rd at Kempton on Saturday (25th February)
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, it was disappointing to only finish third when he looked to have a good chance on paper, however, the winner Solo was given an excellent ride from Harry Cobden, he dictated the tempo, and that just didn’t suit us, we need a real good strong gallop. We did too much in the middle part of the race and didn’t get home over the extended trip. We gave it a go, it didn’t happen, and he’s come back in one piece which is the main thing, and we will look forward to going to Aintree and dropping back to 2 miles, where hopefully we get a good gallop and we will try and our luck again in Grade 1 company at the Grand National meeting.
In Excelsis Deo – PU at Warwick on Friday (24th February)
In hindsight he’d only had one run over fences and we were running against much more experienced rivals in a class 3 handicap, and it told. He made a mistake going away from the stands, and it was probably too much for him at this stage of his career. Lorcan looked after him and pulled him up when it wasn’t happening and so back to the drawing board. It wouldn’t have been the first choice of race, however finding safe ground to run on is currently proving hard, so it was almost through lack of alternatives that we took our chance. He’s come out of the race absolutely fine and we will drop him back in to novice company next day, and hope he can gain some confidence, and hopefully progress from there.
Weekend Preview
Friday
Achnamara – 14:50 Newbury
He’s got the cheekpieces on for the first time, he hasn’t quite taken to hurdling as we had hoped, however his schooling has been better since we put the cheekpieces on to try and help him focus, so it will be interesting to see how he goes and this will help us plan his agenda for the rest of the campaign.
Fairy Gem – 15:45 Doncaster
We are very hopeful she can complete which will qualify her for the EBF mares’ final at Newbury. She’s got a little bit to find at the weights with a couple of her rivals on Friday, and obviously we have to put a disappointing run last day behind her. If she can bounce back and run an encouraging race and qualify for the final, we will aim to go for it in later this month.
Sunday
Lydford Lad – 15:55 Ffos Las
We are going back to the course he ran well at on his chasing debut, this will be a step up in trip, but hopefully the trip will be within his grasp.
Gidleigh Park – 17:40 Ffos Las
He could make his debut in the bumper. He’s a nice big rangy horse, who we have been patient with, he’s ready to get started and a galloping track should suit him. We are hopeful of a good start and performance that he will no doubt improve, and progress, from.
Away Day
We went to Kempton for an away day on Tuesday to gallop Love Envoi and Gin Coco. We haven’t seen Love Envoi since the beginning of January, and Gin Coco hasn’t run since finishing a fine runner-up in the Greatwood Hurdle back in November. It was a case of getting them away to stretch their legs and do something a bit different, so that when we get to Cheltenham they are not too fresh and gassy and are conserving their energy in the race until it matters most. We are really pleased with how both horses worked so it’s all systems go now for the Festival.
Have a great weekend.
Harry
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