Work morning and Warren Marston, Mark Caswell, Abi Stock, Beth Whittle and Harry Greasby all in for one or two lots a piece. Irene and Ollie Ryan in to watch them work as was Jon Hughes. We worked Primogeniture, Chequered View, Solstice Star, Forecast, Back on the Lash, Finnick Glory, Cut and Run, Pomme De Nuit, Oscar World, Miss Antipova, Big Nasty, Young Phoenix, Sarasota Star, Matravers, Lord Condi, Brillare Momento, Buckle Street, Ben Buie, Mello Yello, Mahler 4 year old filly and Cotswold Prince. All the rest cantered.
Great to catch up with Ollie and Irene ahead of Brillare Momento hopefully taking up one of her options at Cheltenham this weekend. She won the opening race of the Meeting last year on a very special day which culminated in Harry Stock’s first Cheltenham winner on Bobble Emerald who was the first Cheltenham winner for his owners David Bishop, Michael Parker and Colin Bowkley – a double on the card.
A meeting with the Landlord Robert Wharton mid morning and lots of plans for more improvements in and around the yard – vital we keep improving and upgrading. Exciting!
Yesterday Freddie was at Lingfield riding in his eighth and final pony race of the season. He’s had the best fun and we worked out we have driven nearly 1400 miles around the country – dedication! His was a series run by The Pony Club and has taken in Cheltenham, Ascot, Haydock, Wincanton, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Beverley and finally Lingfield and is more low key than the Point-to-Point series and the whole day is dedicated to pony club races on these days. In fact there are hardly any Point-to-Point races aimed at ponies as small as Freddie’s and when you are only just 10 years old and quite nervous then racing against bigger ponies is even more scary so we have stuck to those dedicated to 128cm ponies – the smallest category. Those races you see run at the end of a professional racecard are the pinnacle of pony racing – The Charles Owen Series and he’s not old enough to do that yet.
We’ve had so much fun and he has learnt so much thanks to the wonderful people involved in all of the race days and so much help in the horse world too filling Freddie, and his friends that do it, with so much confidence. He’s still nervous but far less so and his form figures for the season read 2 2 1 3 4 5 2 2 which is enough for him to finish 2nd in the 128cm National Championships and he’s very proud of himself and so are we of him.