Runners


We have some interesting runners coming up, the two year olds which have been slow into their stride because of some bad scopes are back on line.  We start tonight with British Art, who has already run once but came back with a bad scope. We have always liked him and since his run he has been gelded and this seems to have straightened him up a bit. We also have RockAroundTheClock who is due to run at Chepstow, he is very quick and is by the dual Royal Ascot winning sire Starspangledbanner, the draw ruined his chances at Sandown where he had nothing on his outside and he swung right coming out.

Secret Success is in great form and has come out of his last win at Lingfield in great form. Skaters Waltz and Dutch Art Dealer both line up at Newmarket, they are both really well, we are just hoping for safe ground, which Newmarket tends to provide. St Paul De Vence may run at Chepstow, he is a very tricky horse to get right on the day, he retains his ability at home. Dark Days will probably run next week, he probably still needs to come down the handicap but has been working well since his last run where he was unlucky in running. There should be a race in Meritocracy and he heads to Windsor on Monday.

Results

It was great to see Circumvent win after such a long time since his last win in 2011. The owners have really been very patient and from his handicap mark he clearly performs better on the all-weather than the grass.  The Goodwins whom own him were absolutely thrilled. There are so many horses in this bracket, maybe it is time to bring back more condition races like we had a few years ago. We hope he has regained his confidence and hope he can step up from this.

Cafetiere got claimed down at Lingfield so best of luck to her new connections.  

Royal Ascot

Gifted Girl will now have a bit of a break and will come back later in the year, we will have to find a weaker race to try to bring her back as she may have lost her confidence. The ground was a bit too firm for Complicit and the trip was probably questionable; he looks badly handicapped so he may head to France next.

Lyfka ran ok at Nottingham, she may need five furlongs and fast ground. Lisamour has now won twice for her connections, she will have a month off as she has had some quick races, she is quite well bred so could be a nice mare prospect for her owner.

Gifted Girl ran a gallant race in the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket to come third, we thought the pace wasn't strong enough for her to lengthen and felt she needed the race to sharpen her up.  She will now head to the Middleton Stakes at York on Thursday if the ground is suitable, the track will suit her more as it is a galloping track, we expect her to improve.  Gifted Girl's full sister, Finagle, has arrived at Whatcombe, she is very similar, has size, scope and strength - an exciting prospect.  It is also good to have The Rogers Family, Airlie Stud, as new owners.

Tioga Pass won nicely at Kempton, she is a half sister to Circumvent and we expect her to improve throughout the season.  It was hard to watch Cape Arrow get beat at Bath as we really fancied him, but it was nice to see him win at Southwell.

Lisamour had a very bad draw at Kempton, this made her gallop on the outside and she was too free, which ruined her chances at the end, so we will ignore that and find another race in a couple of weeks as she deserves a little break.

St Paul De Vence who has had a long layoff ran very well at Pontefract, he has come out of his race very well, we expect him to run a huge race at Newmarket.

Grecian who has been working well, runs at York and we have potentially booked an apprentice and he will go there fit.

We are running a couple of nice two year olds at Newbury on Friday, one is a Dutch Art called Dutch Portrait and the other Expensive Date, in the five furlongs conditions race.

British Art, our only two year old runner, who ran disappointingly at Pontefract, came back with a dirty scope so we have drawn a line underneath it.  We have some nice two year olds to come out.

Berkshire has come out the Greenham well, we could see his chances were doomed as soon as he came out the stalls in front and started pulling and he was never going to get home. Last year first time out he did the same at Newbury, had no cover pulled and ran out of steam. He will do a bit of work on Saturday on our Woolley Down grass gallop for the first time this year and he will go the full distance. We are obviously hoping the race would have brought him on mentally and if we are happy with his work on Saturday a tilt at the Guineas is not out of the question. We would hope for a fast pace which would suit us.



Circumvent ran well again at Kempton in a 1m 0-105 handicap he finished very fast and we will look for another race shortly. 1m is too short for him, 1m 1f is a perfect distance for him but they are few and far between I think we may have to go back to France where he won his Group 3.



Complicit's race was far to rough for him and getting bumped finished him off. When you have the maximum field size like that a smooth passage over that distance is beneficial. Silverheels may have not had the easiest runs around although at the same time it was a very competitive field.



Gifted Girl is in great form and all being well she heads to the Dahlia Stakes, she did a nice piece of work last Saturday and is due for another piece this weekend.



Dark Days is due to run at Doncaster on Friday over 1m 4f he ran encouragingly at Newbury and will need further in time but he has improved from his last run.



Bluegrass Blues may need a pair of blinkers to help him he still maintains stacks of ability. Meritocracy had bad luck in running at Newmarket and will probably head to York he has obviously trained on and should be capable of picking up a couple of races this year all being well.



Grecian is fit and will run at Sandown over 5f we have not done too much finding out work here but he heads their in good form.



We have some nice two year olds to come out starting with a Starspangledbanner colt called Rotherwick that seems to be going nicely a race is yet to be found.

Springing Off For The New Season

Our 2014 season got off to a fantastic start last night with Secret Success winning at Kempton. We are now looking forward to our first big weekend at Newbury where we have 5 horses running on the Saturday.

Most notably Berkshire heads for the Greenham, he is fit and has been working well. We think he has improved from last year and we are hoping for a good run. For the first time we have a good draw! Fingers crossed!

Bluegrass Blues runs in the Spring Cup, he's in great form and is working really well. He's got a good draw and is fit and well.

Fort Berkeley and Dark Days two of our three year old maidens they run in the 4.05pm. Fort Berkeley is a half brother to First Mohican and we think he is a really nice horse in the making. Dark Days is a very good looking, stoutly bred horse and we expect him to run well and come on for the run.

Our final runner is Circumvent. He ran very well in the Winter Derby, he's a different horse on grass but all being well we expect him to run a big race.

Here's to a fantastic weekend racing and the start of a great season!!

Full Steam Ahead!

January has seen a few more new additions to the yard with the arrival of a Filly by Motivator and another by Rail Link. Also now on the books is a lovely 3 year old Filly named Abbakova.
So its full steam ahead for the remainder of the month with the majority of the Yearlings starting to canter next week and our older recruits back in and walking.
Plenty to look forward to!

Happy New Yearlings!

Its been a rather wet and windy start to 2014 here at Whatcombe however the sun is now shining and there is plenty to look forward to for this coming season.
We have a really nice bunch of 2 year old's on the yard for next season, all have been backed and are now trotting with most of them cantering before Christmas.
All of our older horses bar a few have been enjoying a well deserved break through the winter and we are all looking forward to their return.
Treasure Cay runs in Deauville on Monday 13th January in a 7.5 furlong Maiden. We think he will run very well.
All in all lots to look forward to. Happy New Year!!

Complicit broke the track record at Lingfield and qualified for the Million Pound Finals day by beating the strongly fancied Sir Robert Cheval trained by Marco Botti by a length. Graham Lee reported it was all over once he got balanced up the straight at Lingfield.

He then travelled to France where he beat the strongly fancied favourite of Jean-Claude Rouget called Zvarov. He will now take a break until the Million Pound race day where he will line up in the 7 furlong conditions race.


Elysian Prince ran a great race at Lingfield coming second he was very unlucky in running on the bend as he tripped up and took a while to get balanced. He will now have a winter break and be back next year.

Berkshire is very well in himself, putting on weight and the plan is probably to have a prep race before the Guineas.

All the yearlings have been sold apart from a Champs Elysees Colt which we bought for 4,000 Guineas. He is half-brother to a Royal Ascot Chesham 4th in Mine Host and a Listed winner ‘Antediluvian’. He moves extremely well and will be ridden in the next couple of days.