Apologies for no blogs this week – not quite sure where the week has gone but hope those of you on social media have enjoyed our new videos, especially as we have all gone back into Lockdown. Stunning autumn colours surround us and we were keen to share these with you.
A quiet week on the runners front with just Zara Tindall’s Cut & Run at Exeter earlier in the week under James Best. She ran well for a long way, back over hurdles on her seasonal debut but the ground was softer than I’d hoped for and, having been still in with a chance turning for home, she got tired and James popped her home. She’ll come on for the run and will appreciate better going next time but good to get her debut under her belt.
Work morning and James Best, Warren Marston and Tabitha Worsley were all in. It was Tabitha’s first time here and it was great to have her in. Freddie has been lucky enough to have a pony on loan from Tabitha for pony racing whenever that gets going again. She watched Freddie pony racing on his old pony Bubbles and thought he would be suitable so we were very grateful.
Back to today and we worked Found On, Black Panther, Sarasota Star, Big Nasty, Reve, Capricia and Ben Buie. Lots did swinging canters and some just cantered.
Our November Newsletter is out today and you can read it HERE.
No runners today but we are at Stratford’s Meeting tomorrow which was a late addition to the fixture list and caused a bit of stress at declarations yesterday! Great to be racing there though and we have three runners – Debden Bank, Enforcement and Witness Protection. So grateful that owners are still allowed to attend, albeit just two per horse and stricter rules in that owners can only arrive 30/45 mins before the race (dependent on track) and need to leave soon afterwards. Not ideal but better than no owners at all or worse, no racing. Let’s hope this latest Lockdown works as hoped and we will soon be getting back to some sort of normal.
We like to ensure that horses that have either fallen out of love with racing, simply aren’t good enough or who have reached the end of their careers are rehomed correctly and safely. Claire Hart is fantastic at re-schooling and re-homing so will always help us out but sometimes we are able to find a perfect home ourselves. Yesterday Kitty King and husband Ben came to look at Cotswold Prince who has sadly decided racing isn’t for him after such a promising start. They liked what they saw and, whilst they weren’t looking for another horse, trusted our judgement that he may well be suited to eventing and they have taken him.
He’ll be re-schooled and the hope is always that he will be good enough to climb the ranks with Kitty and become a top class event horse but, if not, she’ll do all she can with him then ensure he has a suitable home with someone looking for an event horse to do smaller competitions with. We’ll keep you posted and watch this space with interest. He certainly looked happy in the photos Kitty sent us last night in his stable and out in the field today with his little shetland friend.