In the News
Not a lot to tell you from the yard this week. We’re waiting patiently for the right ground conditions to bring horses out. It’s always tricky this time of year because the ground can turn fairly quickly and we don’t want to risk bottoming horses out this early in the season.So it’s a waiting game with the ground and the weather, which is frustrating but unavoidable. We’ll keep entering horses and if the ground is right, they’ll turn up.
One who won’t be turning up is Valadom. He’s unfortunately picked up an injury after his latest run at Perth and although it’s only a minor tendon injury, you don’t want to take any chances with that sort of thing and we won’t be rushing him back. It’s a shame, but he’ll be back next season.
Last week’s runners
Despite a number of entries, ground conditions prevent both Dame Rose and Surf and Turf from running in any of their prospective races. That left us with Alamein as the only runner, having made the long journey up to Kelso. His homework suggested he came there with a live chance, but unfortunately, he made a mistake at the first and lost his confidence a bit after that. Alain Cawley had to nudge him along quite early on. He never seemed to be going after that early error and he was subsequently pulled up. It’s back to the drawing board for him, maybe a run over hurdles to get his confidence back. He’s got entries at Chepstow, both in the Grade 3 Silver Trophy on Saturday and the two-mile handicap hurdle on Sunday, but we’ll see how he recovers from the weekend.
This week’s runners
A few entries this week, Dame Rose had an entry at Towcester, but the ground was too fast. She also has entries at Chepstow & Hexham on Saturday and Newton Abbot on Friday, all of those in Novice Hurdles around two miles. Although we’d prefer to start off against mares, she would get weight from the boys and we’re keen to get her started, but only if conditions are right. We think a lot of her and hopefully she can get off to a good start. Provided all goes well, we could go to Wetherby for the Charlie Hall meeting.
One who will definitely run is Surf and Turf over at Towcester on Wednesday. He drops back in trip to two miles, but with Towcester having a stiff uphill finish, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. He has won over two miles in the past, although never at Towcester. We’re trying him in cheek-pieces again, something that has worked for him in the past. At least the ground conditions should be to his liking and fingers crossed he can repeat his performance from a few runs ago at Hexham. Robbie Dunne rides him for the first time.
As already mentioned, Alamein has two entries, but we’ll see if he runs in either of those races.The handicap on Sunday would probably be the preferred option for a confidence booster and he would get into the race easy enough with a nice weight.
Finally
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