Owners’ Day yesterday and wow what a day! Thanks to all the hard work that my team here have put in tidying up the yard, ensuring the horses looked amazing (they did!) – they went above and beyond and it showed. Huge thanks also to Jon and Jack Hughes and Paul Davis who have also done so much in so many ways to help yesterday run so smoothly and to Belinda, Ross Hemming, Toby Elford, Carole Arnold … the list goes on and I’ve missed lots out but they have all played their part and I am so grateful.
So many owners and friends enjoyed such a fun day and so many remarked on how far we’ve come in the last year – the new widened carpet loop was fabulous and everyone was able to enjoy watching eight horses (plus Freddie on Bubbles!) canter around it after the horses had paraded. A welcome addition to our already fabulous gallops.
A little jaded today but an enormous buzz around the yard and the team should rightly be pleased with the part they all played – a night out tomorrow to thank them!
Well done to the raffle winners – raising all important funds for the team – Jules Mangan won a place in our Racing Club until December 2018 so welcome to ownership with Team Keighley Jules! Owner John Abernethy won a morning on the gallops and a champagne breakfast and Mike Wright won the case of fine wine – well done to all.
As usual on a Monday Farrier Nick Partridge and vet Jeremy Swan here – only missing physio Maggie but she’s here later in the week.
Three runners at Worcester this afternoon. Harry Stock, our new Conditional Jockey, has his first ride for us as such although he’s ridden winners for us in the past, most notably on the talented Spice Girl twice this summer. He takes 7lbs off Viking Mistress’s back which will help her as she has a huge weight. She seems well and hopefully will give the enthusiastic Racing Club another bold show.
Thady Quil (Andrew Tinkler) runs in the first division of the Handicap Chase (Mistress in the 2nd division) so I’m thrilled they split it as I don’t like running horses against each other. There aren’t many opportunities for these two so they would have had to otherwise. He’s in good form and it would be great if he could run well with Paul Davis, who runs the partnership, in attendance today – Paul lives in Switzerland so can’t often make it.
Altesse De Guye is our third runner and ran well on her return at Worcester last month and is back to a winnable mark so we hope she also runs into at least a place today. She seems well.