Gifted Girl storms home at Ascot

The bad weather continues to interfere with the horses' training, they have their summer coats and the sharp north winds do them no favours.


We were delighted with Gifted Girls win at Ascot on Saturday. She has done plenty of work but not much fast work. Her target being the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in June but she will also be entered into the Windsor Forest Stakes, a Group 2 for fillies.

The three runners at Windsor today are more hopeful than expecting. Cafetiere got unbalanced at Newmarket and ran poorly, Kuntan One is lazy and may need some blinkers on to show his best and Strategic Strike should go well but it is a competitive race.

Berkshire runs at Newbury on Friday, he is a nice horse and worth following.

We have two runners entered to run in France on Friday. Meritocracy should win and Keep the Dream will run well and has a good chance Christophe Soumillon rides both and he has a good record for us.

Getting going with runners

The horses are all running as expected, except Bluegrass Blues who ran disappointingly at Newmarket, he can do better and runs at Wolverhampton on Monday and Graham Lee rides.

Meritocracy ran ok at Newbury, but could do better on decent ground.

Cafetiere got unbalanced at Newmarket.

St Paul de Vence was rusty at Windsor and will do better in time.

Strategic Strike did well to win over a trip short of hist best yesterday at Wolverhampton. He ideally needs 1m4f.

Puteri Nur Laila is declared to run on Thursday at Lingfield but can not be relied on, she wears blinkers again and Ryan Tate takes a handy 5lb off her back too.

Key Appointment has improved for his run and should run well at Sandown on Saturday in the Jump vs Flat jockeys race.

Sheikh Mohammed's trainer has beaten us in some decent races last year and it makes one wonder about the ethics of the operation. As we know, some drugs are not detectable yet or may leave the system before testing, lets hope all involved suppliers and administers all get there come uppance.

Good Start!

The horses are in good form and we are now using the grass which is great. Our one mile two furlong wood chip has been great so far this season, where we have done most of our work. Our gallop man has done an amazing job. We sent some two year olds up the grass in a bunch for the first time and they  went well.

Whatcombe got away nicely with Bluegrass Blues who quickened away nicely to win by one and three quarter lengths at Kempton. We are really happy with him and he may go to Newmarket.

Cafitiere ran very green, she was the fastest finisher in the race and will probably now go to Newmarket. We Like her and think she does have ability but missing the break at Kempton and been crossed is very hard to overcome especially as a two year old.

Puteri Nur Laila is fit and well.

Strategic Strike ran a nice race. We think he may of got slightly tired in the las 1/2 furlong. We were pleased with his effort and he is likely to head to Lingfield over one mile and a half.

Key Appointment runs at Kempton over a mile in a maiden he has been of the track for seventeen months he is fit and well but should come on from the race. It will be very interesting to see how he gets on.

Intermix runs over a mile and he is well and should come on from the race. We think he has ability to go on.

Nice to get the flat on the way. The horses are fit and working well. We have a runner at Kempton on Saturday, Cafetiere, she goes well and with a draw should be there or there abouts. No doubt the other trainers will be thinking the same.


Bluegrass Blues runs on Tuesday and is working well.

We are very much looking forwards to the trials at Newbury and Newmarket, we have horses to run there. Strategic Strike will need the race; he is fit but however lacks the experience.

I notice more and more All-weather races are being reopened, they need much more prize money. The costs are high, and you get a pat on the back at the most for your troubles.

Looking forward to Easter weekend

The horses are now in full work. We are working our two year olds next lot on the Summerdown gallops and there is a good feel in the yard and people are buying horses. We are expecting runners at Kempton over Easter. The weather has been bad, but the all-weather gallop and our gallop man Philip have kept us going so the horses have not missed any work.

We have entered a few two year olds in early closing races, Weatherbys Super Sprint, DBS Premier Stakes and the Weatherbys Insurance Stakes.

Cheltenham week

We had two runners in France last week, one ran poorly and one ran well. Stormbound got over excited before the race, thus ran badly. Kalicamix only dropped out in the last half a furlong, finishing 5th, which paid for the trip and he may reappear on Thursday at Chantilly in a listed event which may be a little too hot for him.

Although the weather has been inclement the horses are quite well forward bearing in mind. Other than Doncaster, racing gets off to a very low key set of races until April when we have Newmarket and Newbury in one week (can't wait for it). We have bought a faster type of two year old, trying to go the successful Hannon route and they are shaping up well.

Looking forward to Cheltenham in front of the fire although with new Channel 4 team, I am not expecting too many laughs. 

French runners this week!

The whole string is nearly in now and back in full work. Although we have not got a lot of horses, they are all likely sorts and lets hope we don't have to go to France for the ground and the prize money. Since last August we have had 8 winners from 11 runners in France, earning the yard nearly 200K with claims and prize money.

I can see the way things are going, average runners per race are down to eight, trainers are running purely for a pat on the back, benefiting only book makers. With many races being re-opened, All Weather racing could be under threat and prize money needs to be trebled. Everybody seems to have got used to racing for nothing, I think racing will start withering from the bottom.

We have two runners in France tomorrow, Kalicamix and Stormbound. Kalicamix is probably out of his depth but Stormbound has an each way chance from a poor draw.