Hot again today although a potential storm threat later which we are monitoring very closely as we have over 50 members of Foxtrot Racing Partnerships here tonight for a Summer Picnic and to see all their horses in training here…hoping the weather holds as it should be a hugely entertaining evening.
We’ve had three runners this week and all are home safely. Windy Cove ran a good race in defeat at Southwell on Monday to finish 3rd on a track and trip that probably didn’t suit her as well as last time. She’s a fun mare and there are surely plenty more races to be won with her.
We went to Newton Abbot evening meeting on Tuesday and I was there early to talk through the card in Steve & Trish Harman’s fun box and it was great to catch up with the Harmans and meet their friends too. Ben Buie ran well for a long way but faded after a mistake and Sean Bowen reported he didn’t jump as well as he can do so we got him fully checked out by the vet yesterday and he is uncomfortable in his back which we’ll help him with.
Mr Mafia is a victim of his own success and, after a superb win last time the Handicapper raised him back up the 5lbs he’d dropped him so poor Mafia has little options and those few races he can run in are full of younger improving horses. His race was reduced to three runners but his two opponents had both recently won over 2 1/2 miles whereas Mafia’s Ludlow run was over 3 miles and the race did fall apart somewhat so we did fear they may run him off his feet. Sadly the writing was on the wall from the start as they both set off with intent and Mafia, despite trying his hardest as he always does, simply couldn’t lay up with them. When all chance of winning was gone Sean Bowen sensibly pulled him up and he was bonny and A1 when washed down and trotted up well yesterday.
This morning he was turned out in the field with two others and he was the ring leader as he careered around the field with two horses of a combined age of 8, 7 years his junior! He simply doesn’t realise his age and as long as he continues to love his racing and enjoy being in training then we’ll keep him going.
Yesterday Belinda represented us at The Cotswold Schools Farming & Rural Careers Fair and had a very busy day by the sounds of it. She took the mechanical horse and it sounds as if most of the 1250 Cotswold School pupils and a group of primary school children from Bourton on the Water Primary School had a go at being a jockey on it. As you can imagine though there wasn’t just Freddie who was tidy on it, there are plenty of horsey kids at both schools so there were lots of potential jockeys in action! Obviously racing has so much more to offer than the chance to be a jockey and Belinda did her best to explain to the children that there is a wide variety of roles available. Hoping to encourage the next generation of workforce.
