We worked a few of the horses yesterday morning and Warren Marston was in to ride out. Jo Stainer came to watch Lord Condi and was as pleased as we were with how he worked. He’ll be running later this morning and has had a break following his Fontwell bumper win. We also worked Cotswold Prince, Forecast, Matravers, Cul De Poule and Morning Herald. All the rest did a canter or two.
Another glorious weekend – we’ll not get bored of saying that! We have one runner today – “Bay Dude” making his racecourse debut on the flat at Windsor under George Wood. He’s owned by Born to Run Racing which is headed by his breeder Mark Allen and many of you will remember Bay Dude’s mother – Sky Calling who won five races under Rules for us including over fences, hurdles and even a Cheltenham Charity race too. She was as tough as they come and if he has even half her will to win then we’ll have plenty of fun with him. He’s not very big and may be a little buzzy today but Mick has done a great job at home with him and is leading him up today too. Hopefully he runs a solid race and gives us something to work on.
Too many jockeys have been injured over the last few weeks and Kieran Shoemark, brother of Conor who often rides out for us, suffered a horrible fall on the flat at Lingfield yesterday breaking 12 ribs and puncturing a lung. Luckily Conor was hosting boxes at Lingfield so could go to hospital with him and Jamie Moore very kindly put Conor and girlfiend Abi up overnight last night showing once again what a wonderful family racing is at times of need. We wish him a speedy recovery.
With about 20% more horses due to come back into training than this time last year we are looking for two more members of staff to join our team. We are keen to help team members develop in whichever way they wish be it aiming towards a charity race ride, riding under rules, towards NVQ exams – whilst working here and we have a friendly and professional team that work together well. We even have owners willing to sponsor team members to achieve exam success too so it will not only not cost them any money but they will have a mentor who would support them as little or as much as they like too. With such lovely horses in, 7 winners already on the board and the yard improvements ensuring we are always looking towards the future – it’s never been a better time to join us.