More rain and it doesn’t look to be stopping soon so ground conditions ever changing and making 48 hour declarations trickier but lovely to see the grass growing and everywhere so much greener.
James Best in this morning and Paul Davis in to brave the rain. Mike & Mella Wright were in at lunchtime ahead of racing tonight at Worcester so a good catch up with them at the Coach & Horses in Longborough and also with Geoff and Caroline Godsall. Tabitha Worsley in to ride out three lots yesterday.
A busy few days with runners. Witness Protection jumped well in the main on his chasing debut but was never travelling like he usually does and James knew early on that it was probably a race too many. You often can’t tell until you run them but he’s had a fantastic season and it was great to get a chase run under his belt before a well earned summer holiday. Goldie’s Lovingit ran well for a long way but then made a noise and stopped so quickly – he’ll go to Ben Brain’s to see what’s going on and looks booked for a wind operation. He’s one of the nicest young horses we’ve had for quite some time so we’ll get his wind sorted and look forward to getting him back on track. Capricia looked like she was going to play a huge part in the finish but made a bad mistake 2 out. She was a bit sore but looks better today. Her time will surely come soon. Pinnacle Peak ran a much better race to finish 4th.
Sarasota Star went to Market Rasen yesterday under James Best for Torben Dal & Jon Hughes but unfortunately the extended trip in softening ground didn’t suit and he didn’t quite get home to finish 4th. He’s A1 today and I can’t wait to go chasing with him but we’ll see if we run him again or give him a summer holiday.
We had a very enjoyable supper last night with Sharon & Grahame Lovett at The Bell in Stow on the Wold. Really weird to be out and about again!
Worcester tonight and Dreamsundermyfeet goes for an enthusiastic group from Owners for Owners. He is learning all the time and is a big chasing sort and I’m hoping he’ll handle the softening ground better than most. James Best rides both him and Dariya, for David Parry, who runs in the Mares’ Handicap Hurdle and she’s been largely disappointing so will need to bounce back to be involved.
Yesterday Harry, and his Temple Guiting School classmates, went to Warwick Racecourse for the day as part of the Racing To School Initiative. Racing To School is a charity that inspires young minds, delivering free programmes engaging young people in educational activities at racing venues. Obviously he LOVED it! Encouragingly all his class did too and some (believe it or not!) are from non-racing families! They measured the Paddock, worked out how many horses could safely be allowed in their, some of them weighed themselves, looked at diet and healthy eating, they had a go on the Mechanical Horse, had a good look at all the kit that jockey’s wear and use, measured a chase fence (Harry was apparently unimpressed that his mother had finished 3rd around Warwick over fences!) and much more – they took home some workbooks and the teachers plan to carry on working through them. He was buzzing and let’s hope it encouraged some other children into a career in racing.
