Great to meet up with so many friends over the two days at Cheltenham. We headed north to Aintree with two runners yesterday so a busy three days of racing.
Buckle Street had been aimed at the Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle for quite some time as the trip of 3 miles was bound to suit plus using our own Conditional Harry Stock gains us an additional 3lbs off his back. He’s not been the most reliable at the start on occasions but, even without being a little bit generous, he’s had reasonable excuses so far…
Yesterday Harry made the Starter aware of his occasional tendancies to misbehave and Harry ensured he was buried in the middle of the large field and kept moving forward. It looked like a perfect start for him but suddenly he slammed on as the tapes went up and he lost at least 10 lengths. So frustrating as no need for him to do it. Harry sensibly got him back into the race steadily and he jumped well and stayed on under a very positive ride from Harry to finish 6th beaten just over 13 lengths. So annoying and left thinking of what could have been. Thinking caps now on to see what we can do to try and eliminate this happening again – he’s happy in his work at home and doesn’t even think of doing it here and we’ll get him checked over again but don’t think he’s in pain. He won’t go out alone but he’s always been like that and was before we bought him from Mary Hambro’s but always in a pack he’s happy. Horses!
Forecast was having his second run after a wind operation and the low sun meant that two hurdles were omitted in the straight therefore 4 less to jump. Conor Shoemark gets on very well with him and settled him out the back of the field and got him jumping well. He slowly moved his way up turning for home and was going better than most before getting a little squeezed up going around the bypassed hurdle however he stuck on gamely under a great ride from Conor to get up to grab 3rd on the line. A great run delighting us all and hopefully we’ll get his head in front again soon.
Busy here this morning with Maggie Turner, our physio and Farrier Nick Partridge in as usual on a Monday. Jemima Turner was here today starting a weekly placement from Hartpury College – she couldn’t have picked a colder October day! We look forward to her learning plenty about racing from everyone here and from our various fantastic professionals that help us and our horses. I think she will be a big help and will hopefully enjoy being part of our team here too.