A bit of a frost overnight and although I’d intended to school some horses over fences when the frost had come out, it was too firm to do so and so they haven’t schooled today. Ridiculous in mid February! Thankfully we have a private reservoir and also the tools to water my schooling ground and, although I’d not expected to do it so soon into the year, I thankfully can do.
We head to Hereford today with two runners – an old timer (sorry Forecast!) and a first timer. Forecast runs for our Racing Club and has won around Hereford before. I won’t let him run unless I’m happy with the ground as he’s had fragile legs in the past but he’s in good order and it’s a big prize and if he ran into a place we’d all be thrilled. He’s partnered by Sean Bowen who returns from a period on the sidelines and he’ll be very pleased to be back I’m sure. Forecast is a real favourite of the yard and now he settles so well we have taken the hood off him although he’ll have a red hood on in the paddock and to post.
Our other runner is Prairie Diamond who is part owned by Nigel McAllen whose colours he runs in. Nigel is also responsible for naming him too. We own the rest of him and, whilst it would obviously be great for us if he confirms the promise he’s shown at home, we’d love him to run well for Nigel. He’s not overly big and still needs to develop further but has a likeable attitude. We do usually leave a bit to work on with our bumper horses as they are all trained with the future in mind which is why we don’t have that many bumper winners. We do, however, have plenty that run well and into a place and we’d be thrilled if he did just that today. Good luck Nigel!
Last night Belinda & I went to the Theatre – Cheltenham’s Everyman to watch The Shawshank Redemption. It wasn’t your typical Valentine’s Night production but was superb and they quite rightly received a standing ovation. Joe Absolom and Ben Onwukwe were superb but the whole cast was also very good. I highly recommend watching….The Shawhank Redemption.