Another double – four doubles so far with a total of 12 winners on the board!
What a great day yesterday was with another double, this time back at Worcester. Kazontherazz was returning to Worcester for her 2nd hurdling start after unseating James Best at the 2nd last time giving him no chance of staying in the saddle. She did school around loose so must have learnt from that! Seriously though, since then I decided to school her over fences at home as her 1st schooling session back over hurdles didn’t seem to bring much more respect. She flew up over the fences and her jumping yesterday was superb. She’s a keen mare and buzzy at home so I decided to drop her back in trip to 2 miles, make the running on her if possible and put a hood back on too. Although she was soon taken on for the lead, James rode her handily, always giving her plenty of daylight and she showed how tough she is battling all the way up the straight to gain a hard fought 1 1/2 length win.
A much deserved win and we are all absolutely thrilled for The Meagher Family. They have mentioned that I’ve been grumpy after her two 2nds in bumpers when they have been rightly delighted for her as she’s run blinders but it’s because we are so competitive that I’ve been frustrated and so desperate to train them a winner! No complaints from any of us yesterday and they were relieved, I’m sure, to see a massive smile on my face!
It wasn’t long before we were back in the winners’ enclosure – Pinnacle Peak followed up with facile win over hurdles in the last race of the day under a motionless Sean Bowen for Mark Boothright, adding to their recent Southwell win. It really was impressive and to quote the commentator “if it was a Boxing Match then the Ref would have stopped the fight a long time ago…cantering home to win the finale by a wide margin without breaking sweat!” Well done to Mark with his 4th winner of the season.
Huge thanks to racecourse photographer Nigel Kirby for so kindly sharing these superb photos with us not long after they’ve crossed the line! Top man.
Both these horses are out of the tough mare Giovanna with Kazontherazz by Kayf Tara and Pinnacle Peak by Passing Glance who stands at our local Batsford Stud and is doing so well at the moment. In fact we kept it in the family as we also sent their older half brother Back On The Lash (who has won 2 already this season) as a travelling companion for Pinnacle Peak!
Regardless of the ‘Sister Act’ headline in the Racing Post – I promise you that Pinnacle Peak is Kaz’s half brother not half sister!
Our 3rd runner was Reve and he was disappointing so we’ll give him a thorough check over as there has to be a reason for his below par run.
Eclat Des Mottes runs at 6.15pm tonight under James Best at Uttoxeter. I’m frustated he’s not got his head in front yet but he’s run a few solid races for us. He’s fitted with a tongue tie today and as he keeps dropping down the handicap ratings we are hopeful a race will fall his way soon. Good luck to his owners Bishop, Bowkley, Parker, Dee and Davis.
We are currently sitting in 12th place in the Trainers’ Table with only 6 trainers having trained more winners than us so far this season. Our strike rate is 21% and our return to a £1 stake is nearly £29, more than any other trainer in the top 30 and a fantastic 41% of our horses finishing 1st or 2nd. None of this could happen without an incredible team behind us who continue to work so hard.
Our family had a wonderful weekend at Royal Windsor cheering on Freddie and Blackie in the Shetland Pony Grand National raising money for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust. After 18 months with no racing, they both have improved no end and their best two races were on Saturday finishing 2nd and 3rd and making us very proud. Great to almost be back to normality for the weekend – a very special show to be invited to and it’s so good for these children learning not only race craft but also how to handle themselves from being interviewed live in the main arena to coping with things when the don’t go right (naughty shetlands!) too.
Huge thanks to Sebastian Garner and Vera Akehurst who make it happen for these lucky children. Us adults have a pretty fun time too and Harry is the best and most supportive brother ever – his highlight of the weekend was watching England win the football 4-0 on the big screen. A brilliant Saturday night. We returned to a really good report from Harry’s school too – he’s not the most academic but he must have tried very hard this past year and I can’t admit to not being surprised with how well he’s done at school and we are very proud of him. Cotswold School in September – can’t believe we will no longer have a child at Temple Guiting Primary School. End of an era.
