Martin’s Blog 1st October

October already and apologies for no blog for a few days, our feet haven’t touched the ground! Although Worcester on Friday was win-less for us I was especially pleased to get Brillare Momento’s seasonal debut under her belt albeit the race wasn’t run to suit. They crawled for much of the race and she’s not the type you can let go on and make your own pace so Aidan had to sit and suffer and she was outsprinted when they eventually wound it up but stayed on gamely to finish 3rd – she’s so tough. It wasn’t ideal but she’ll come on from that.

Lerichi Belle tried to make all but faded and needed the run more than we thought she would. She’s not the easiest to train as is so buzzy but Harley Cornock has done a great job switching her off and doing plenty of steady work on her own but we now know she’ll come on for that run. She jumped for fun though and Andrew was easy on her when her chance had gone.

Dr Dunraven was frustrating as he walked through the last fence when in front and it knocked the stuffing out of him and he then finished 3rd. Still a good run but such a shame he made such a costly mistake when he needed to fly it.

Hartshorne Abbie ran a much better race but still left us scrathing our heads and wondering where to go from here but not as much as Twentyoneblackjack who ran no sort of race and didn’t give Harry Stock much help at all. Frustrating.

After a difficult week we were also forced to change our weekend plans which sadly meant missing the wedding of Michelle Folley and Malcolm Sallis but a beautifully sunny day greeted them on Saturday and we wish them all the best for their future together. Family is so precious and life goes by so fast therefore it was good to have a family night away near Beverley where we had travelled up for Freddie and his pony Bubbles to pony race yesterday. We don’t have time to do much together as a family so with no runners it was a good opportunity to escape for 24 hours and Sally Beverley kindly allowed us to use a Stable for Bubbles overnight.

It was the 7th race of an 8 race series that has taken in some fabulous tracks around the country and Freddie entered the day a point ahead knowing that there wasn’t realistically much chance he was going to beat the favourite. However he rode another really good race and they finished 2nd beating their other rival, who had won last time, convincingly and he is now joint leader of the 128 Pony Club Championships with one race to go. He’ll need a miracle to reverse the placings but he has improved so much both mentally and with his riding too, learnt so much and we’ve all made so many new friends that he should be so proud of how much he has achieved in this his first pony racing year. What lucky children they are and thank you to all the organisers and racecourses for allowing them such a fabulous opportunity.

A busy Monday morning with Physio Maggie Turner, vet Jeremy Swan and Farrier Nick Partridge all here. The clipping has started on a few too whose coats are starting to get woolly. Winter is on it’s way!

We also had our Annual visit from Lycetts, our Insurers. Anna Goodley looks after us but is only days away from having her first child therefore Oli Curl called in today and it was great to catch up with her too. We wish Anna all the best too – exciting times.

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