A fantastic Saturday morning packed full of owners to watch the horses working. Paul Davis was in all morning and was joined by Jo Stainer 1st lot who, as usual, thoroughly entertained us all. 2nd lot we were joined by Matthew Baker who brought his Mother, Aunty and Uncle along to see Cotswold Prince, Buckle Street and the Mahler filly Betsy in particular.
3rd lot we welcomed Neville and Pam Statham to watch their stunning gelding Young Phoenix and it was lovely to catch up with them.
Birthday boy Tom Bellamy (Happy Birthday Tom!) was in for a couple of lots and his godfather (& Freddie’s!) Warren Marston was also in 1st lot. We worked Dr Dunraven, Matravers, Forecast, Brillare Momento, Reve, Hartshorne Abbie, Pirate Look, Ben Buie, Debden Bank, Back On The Lash, Chequered View, Raving Bonkers, Twentyoneblackjack, World War, Sarasota Star, Hot To Trot Milan Filly, Finnick Glory and Cotswold Prince. Zara Tindall’s groom Emma brought Cut & Run over to work 2nd lot too – she’s been coming over regularly and will be back in full training soon. She looks fantastic.
Two runners at Plumpton tomorrow. Lord Condi (Aidan Coleman) makes his second start over hurdles after finishing 3rd recently. We’re hoping he has a better experience tomorrow as it was a very rough race for him last time but he’s been extensively schooled and seems in good form. Also at Plumpton is Buckle Street (Harry Stock) who, although it says ‘refused to race’ last time, that is very harsh as it was an awful start with a horse refusing to line up and the rest of the field given no chance to turn around and get a better start. Having said that, we’ll be holding our breath tomorrow until he’s safely underway and, as long as that’s the case, it looks a very suitable race with any extra rain helping him. The race re-opened for 1/2 an hour after declarations closed at 10am yesterday and frustratingly it looks like our two main dangers are the ones that came in at that late stage! That’s how it goes….
Belinda isn’t able to come and support her favourite Buckle Street as we are hosting a Pony Racing Training Day on behalf of the Pony Racing Authority here tomorrow. It will give the children that attend an opportunity to learn about the fitness required from them as a jockey, technique on a mechanical horse and then they will be assessed on their ponies as to whether they are safe to race in Pony Races during 2019. Pretty handy for Freddie that he is able to hopefully qualify at home and encouraging the jockeys of the future is something we are very happy to assist with and we are thrilled that the PRA have agreed to hold a training day here. The weather forecast however isn’t kind so let’s hope it is wrong!