News

"No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle."

Winston Churchill.

Chankillo (Lauren) Zenarinda (Dan)

It was a biting wind that greeted us on the Heath this morning; I think it was -6 or 7. There were plenty of scarves and balaclavas being worn by all the lads riding out. There was also an assortment of headgear on the trainers who were brave enough to come out on to the Heath. The forecast is for it to snow late this afternoon and into the evening but at present it is blue sky and freezing cold. Our horses have all had a good warm up in the indoor school with a trot round followed by one canter up Warren Hill.

Cotton Grass (Rhea) Astroscarlet (Abbi)

We have three runners today at Lingfield which along with Wolverhampton is the only racing today. Ffos Las is already off as it should have been yesterday; it is so far away from anywhere that people would have had to set off so early to get there or even gone overnight which all adds to the expense. 

Our horses and lads left for Lingfield at the crack of dawn; we start with Marvo at 1:25. We all know how consistent he has been this all-weather season and he shouldn’t be far off again today. It would be great if he could put his head in front and it is the first ride that Danny Brock will be having for me. He is an apprentice with Chris Wall and has been riding out for us on a weekly basis. He seems a very polite lad who wants to get on and we will start to see what he can do today.

Smokey Oakey runs in the 3 o’clock. He has not run for nearly 500 days on the flat and it has taken him time to get over a few problems following his excitement after seeing the sights of Newmarket when he was loose a few months ago. All I can expect from him today is a sensible run which will put him straight for another hurdle run or two in the spring.

Our last runner is Jennifer J in the 4:35. She looks like she will be better when we get the turf and a bit of distance but she is mad fresh and another run will give her another good education. Saying that, this looks a moderate race and miracles sometimes happen.

Comrade Bond (Abbi)

I see they are considering taking Black Caviar to Dubai to run in the Golden Shaheen which is worth two million dollars. This would be on her way to a run at Royal Ascot and it will be fantastic to see such a great mare from down-under try to increase her reputation against the northern hemisphere horses. Let’s hope it happens.

Steve with Jenko and Tony Cross - new syndicate member of Comrade Bond

It was interesting to read an article yesterday by a certain Newmarket trainer in the Racing Post that inferred only she and couple of other trainers used the schooling facilities at The Links. This is far from the truth as one trainer has already pointed out in today’s Racing Post chat room. There are plenty of trainers who have jumpers in Newmarket and they all use the brilliant facilities that we have available to us. She may have been trying to say that she can’t understand why there are not more just pure national hunt trainers in Newmarket as we have unbelievable facilities for that sphere. However the economics of training solely jumpers doesn’t really work in a flat orientated town. That is why there are so many trainers with dual purpose strings.

Eanans Bay (Abbi) Marsh Dragon (Liam) Haafd Filly (Lee)

A great sporting weekend with the cricket team still struggling in Dubai, the Six Nations starting and the Owls at home to Yeovil - this of course is the highlight. We are not far off the top and a good win today, which I am expecting, will put us on the right road for promotion. Come on the Owls!

Barwick (Abby) Topamichi (Lauren) Star of Missouri (Rhea) Frederick Alfred (Dan)

“I am an optimist. It doesn’t seem too much use being anything else.”

Winston Churchill.

Cotton Grass  (John) Astrolibra (Iain) Marvo (Steve)

Another very cold morning with a hard frost, but we have blue sky now and some lovely winter sunshine coming through. I have already had two good lots of canterers out which have gone up the Warren Hill polytrack, and because we have had no rain the walking grounds are in good order. If they had been wet and then become frozen overnight it could have been highly dangerous. All the horses look marvellous at the moment with plenty of condition on them and good coats too. They are all eating well and are in very good spirits.

Jennifer J (Hannah) Astromagic (Rhea)

I see Ruby Walsh failed in his appeal against his three-day ban for careless riding at Cheltenham last weekend. I think he’s been very hard done by here as he and the other jockey Wayne Hutchinson never stopped riding; only very minimal interference took place. I personally think that the result should have stood as they finished at the time. There are several races where worse interference takes place on a nearly daily basis but nothing happens. The rule is, though, that if it is a short head difference the result can be changed. If Ruby’s horse had won by a head the result wouldn’t have changed - it was only because there was short head between them that it did.

Astroscarlet (Abbi) Zenarinda (Dan)

Hopefully we will have three runners tomorrow at Lingfield on the all weather but I cannot see racing being on at Wetherby where there is an inspection today at 3 o’clock. If the weather goes on like this I suppose we shall have only mundane flat racing to keep everybody on the move. It is much better going racing in warm weather and this is where Dubai and South Africa come into their own at this time of year.

Chankillo (Lauren) Akula (Liam) Ron (Lee)