It was fabulous to be back at Cheltenham with so many friends this weekend and all our horses are home safely – it was a busy weekend.
The shorter trip of 2m 4f on quick ground got Back On The Lash out of his comfort zone and he stayed on up the hill but his chance by then was gone, Found On made a mistake at the 3rd and after then Sean Bowen reported she was never really enjoying herself and he looked after her – we’ll get her thoroughly checked out.
Debden Bank was always handy and gave his enthusiastic syndicate plenty to shout about as, until 3 out, he really did look like he was going to make all their dreams come true! However, the undulations of Cheltenham eventually told and he tired up the hill to finish 11th. Amateur James King gave him a great ride and he’ll revert to flatter tracks over that trip or a shorter trip back at Cheltenham in the future.
Finally David Maughan’s Brorson ran an absolute blinder in the concluding hurdle to finish 2nd, beaten just 3/4 length. It was David’s first Cheltenham runner and up the run-in I did think for one moment he was going to win. But watching David’s delight afterwards, and that of his friends and family that joined him, it was as good as a winner and there will no doubt be some party when he does have a Cheltenham winner! Brorson showed us what a promising horse he is and he’s one I’m excited about.
On Friday night we had a fun supper with Ollie & Irene Ryan and Tilly Jarrett at Winchcombe’s White Hart Inn which was delicious.
Saturday morning was a fun one too here at the yard with about 25 members of The Racegoer’s Club joining us on the gallops. Paul Davis kindly looked after them and they seemed to have a good time.
At Cheltenham we ran Sarasota Star in the first, reverting to hurdles under Ben Godfrey. Rarely is there a Conditional Jockeys’ race at Cheltenham with no pace but frustratingly this was one such race and we could have done ideally with an end to end gallop. Ben always had Sarasota handy with daylight and gave him a great ride getting him jumping well and always in the right place. He jumped the last hurdle upsides the eventual winner and, even though the eventual 2nd and 3rd placed horses squeezed him up towards the line, I don’t think it made any difference to the result and we were all thrilled with his 4th place, beaten less than 3 lengths. We are going to have a lot of fun with him as he’s as competitive over fences as he is over hurdles.
Finally Brianna Rose ran in the bumper under James Best for local owner Matthew Baker and it looked a big ask on paper and we decided to settle her at the back and hope that she enjoyed herself and finished the race galloping. She did just that and stayed on over the final furlong to be beaten just 16 lengths and probably put in a career best run. She’ll now go hurdling and James Best was thrilled with her attitude so we look forward to the rest of the season with her.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable night out at 131 in Cheltenham and fabulous to finally be back out both day and night enjoying the whole racing experience. Thanks to Cheltenham Racecourse for looking after us all so well as usual and we can’t wait to be back there in November.
No runners today but farrier Nick Partridge and physio Maggie Turner in and we’ll be at Chepstow tomorrow with Samtara and Kazontherazz. More about them tomorrow.