Yesterday we had visits from Alan and Anna Varey from Batsford Stud to see their mare, Miss Antipova, work with Mister Valentine. Both horses worked well and it was great to catch up with Alan & Anna 1st Lot. 2nd Lot Mike & Mella Wright were in to watch Twentyoneblackjack. He worked up with City Never Sleeps and both horses went well and Twentyoneblackjack has certainly benefited from the time he’s been given by Mike & Mella and the work they have done in his pre-training. He’s a bigger, stronger horse this year.
Today we were also busy with visitors and Fi Gamble not only came to see her beloved Buckle Street but also to deliver her wonderful colours who he is going to be running in for this coming season. It’s such a great idea with our syndicates that we have a draw each season and everyone has a chance to see their colours in action for a season. Fi is understandably excited and she even persuaded me to try them on! I’m sure the jockeys will look far better in them…!
Mark Allen and Kate Docker were here 2nd lot to see Bay Dude and watch the rest of the horses on the gallops. He returned a bit sore from his last run but the vet checked him out and it’s luckily just a knock and he’ll be back out again soon.
Emma & Andrew Cook brought their friend and racing fan Simon Wadley, who we see often at Stratford, for a morning on the gallops as part of his 50th Birthday celebrations and they all seemed to have a fun morning. They also brought their boys, Richard and Edward much to the delight of our boys as Richard is Freddie’s pony racing friend and all the boys seemed to find plenty of things to entertain themselves – not least the mechanical horse and the buggy!
Tom Bellamy, Warren Marston and Mark Caswell were all in to ride work and we worked Buckle Street, Mr Mafia, Matravers, Primogeniture, Oscar World, Brillare Momento, Somewhere To Be, Lord Condi, Chequered View, Hartshorne Abbie, Lady Vitesse, Raving Bonkers and Enforcement. Lots more horses cantering and great to see the youngsters that we collected from Martin Jones’ earlier in the week looking so well and settled. What lovely horses and a few for sale too so do come and have a look if you are interested. We’ll get photos on the website shortly.