Both horses home safe from Wetherby yesterday but not the day we wanted. Hurdling debutante Duke Of Luckley (Alain Cawley) found it all came a bit too quick for him after just one run in a bumper. He’s a lovely 4 year old who has schooled well at home and had a lovely attitude but when the pressure was applied yesterday and he made a mistae at the 4th hurdle, Alain said he felt like a big, green, baby who found it all happened a bit too quickly for him. He returned with a haematoma on his knee so is a little sore today but it will be fine. He’ll be given a bit of time and will tell us when he’s ready to go again.
Big Nasty jumped for fun under Sean Quinlan which kept him in the race when he was reportedly hating the ground. However, they continued to take him on and on ground he hated he simply couldn’t continue to be competitive so Sean looked after him and pulled him up. He’s a lovely big horse who jumps for fun but who we now definitely need to be careful with where we run him to ensure the ground is right. He’s A1 today.
At home yesterday it was really busy and it was unfortunate that I had to kick on to Wetherby early and miss everyone. It was our Annual Racing Club Christmas gathering with mulled wine, homemade mince pies from Janne Bishop (thank you Janne), fizz and sausages too. An amazing and fun group of people, some have been huge supporters of us from the very beginning and thanks to Paul Davis, who does so much for us, for holding the fort and looking after everyone despite being a part owner in Duke of Luckley who was at Wetherby. Belinda reported it to be a really super morning with the obligatory christmas jumper photo with a very christmassy backdrop this year. She’d been decorating on Friday! The decorations also doubled up as a backdrop for Freddie’s “10 days to go” photo shoot ahead of The London International Horse Show – there are 10 jockeys and shetlands heading there and each given a day and Freddie’s was “10 days” which is tomorrow so we’ll share his photo then.
I managed to watch 1st lot work and take a quick video for our owners before heading North to Wetherby where my parents and Aunty June were to support our runners and always great to see them. It’s so good to have such an amazing team behind me that I can leave the yard in such capable hands – horses & owners so well looked after.
Belinda & I had our booster jabs in Bishops Cleeve early this morning and then I was off to watch Freddie play football, home thankfully, at Northleach where they played well but didn’t take their chances and got beaten 4-0. A character building game. Harry’s team won 5-1 yesterday so he has the bragging rights this weekend!
Reve heads to Ludlow tomorrow for Oliver Ryan under James Bowen. He ran well for a long way at Catterick last month before finishing a well beaten fourth but had won the time before, back at Ludlow, so hopefully he can bounce back to form.