We were excited to have our first runner tonight at Chelmsford with Black Prince who has been in for most of lockdown and seems in great form. Horses are prone to sometimes knowing when they are due to run and frustratingly it appears Black Prince did too and he wasn’t 100% sound this morning and therefore is a non-runner.
Frustrating as his owners were so looking forward to watching him, albeit remotely as they are not yet allowed on the racecourse and also Belinda & the team here had already dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s and were hoping we were 100% compliant to the BHA’s stringent protocols. All vital and we all appreciate how lucky we are to have our wonderful sport back in action. We cannot wait until our owners are allowed back on the racecourse too as they have been so supportive and are arguably the most important people in racing – without owners we have no horses and no racing.
We thoroughly enjoyed ITV’s coverage of fabulous racing over the weekend – their whole team did a brilliant job and especially the technical team enabling all the presenters to work remotely from their homes. Zoom calls from owners, especially after they’d won, was a great addition and we loved watching the whole weekend of coverage. Well done especially to Ryan Moore winning the 1000 Guineas impressively on Love.
Work morning this morning and Warren Marston and James Best in to assist. We worked Cotswold Prince, Lord Condi, Mr Mafia, Ten Past Midnight, Gold Mountain and Capital Force. All the rest cantered and it is great to have such an exciting team of horses in for the season ahead.
Our Chairman Jon Hughes had a birthday on Sunday so a very happy birthday to him and look forward to celebrating belatedly when allowed. It’s a busy week as our Head Girl Jasmin celebrates her birthday tomorrow and we wish her a fantastic lockdown birthday too!