In the News
We had another lovely winner for the bloodstock branch with Walk In The Mill staying every yard of the three-mile trip to land a valuable Ascot handicap last Friday. Bought for Robert Walford and his team, he surged clear on the run in to win by seven lengths and add another winner to list of horses bought by RHBloodstock.
Our own runners on Friday ran with great credit despite not winning, Ramonex finishing third and Going Gold coming second. We were really pleased with their efforts and they’ll make exciting horses for the season going forward. Shantou Flyer didn’t have as great a time in the Betfair Chase, in horrible ground, but we live to fight another day with him. We have another big-day runner at Newbury this Saturday when Dame Rose runs in the listed mares’ hurdle on Ladbrokes Trophy day. It’s great for a smaller yard to have runners on the big days and hopefully there’ll be many more to come.
Previous Runners
We had two runners last Friday at Catterick and Ramonex made a pleasing impression on his second start over fences. Taking in three furlongs further, he raced more prominently than previously under Danny Cook, jumped much better and led for a long way. He was still in contention coming into the home straight, but Nicky Henderson’s horse had a bit too much pace and swept by him. To his credit, he responded to Danny’s urgings but was just a bit outpaced by a good horse. He stayed on again towards the finish and didn’t lose anything in defeat. He’s come out of the race fine and we’ll be looking to the future with him.
In the closing bumper on the same card, Going Gold made an equally nice stable debut. He’d been off the track for just over a year, but showed no signs of rustiness on his return. Danny Cook was in the saddle again and tracking the leaders most of the way, he came into the straight with every chance. He couldn’t quite match the turn of foot that the winner showed, but stayed on gamely for pressure. It was another pleasing run and he will most likely head over hurdles on the back of that. Jumping obstacles should see him in an even better light and hopefully he can get himself in the winner enclosure at some point this season.
Our final runner of the week was Shantou Flyer in the big race of the weekend the Grade One Betfair Chase. The ground was horrible and he was starting to struggle with the pace set by Bristol de Mai when he made an error down the back straight. Adam Wedge pulled him up fairly swiftly after that, which was probably the right thing to do in the conditions. Rather than struggling to live with the impressive Bristol de Mai in bad ground and blowing up his season, he lives to fight another day. He worked today (Friday) and looked in great shape. He has entries at Aintree and Cheltenham in December and we’ll see where we go from here.
This week’s runners
We have one confirmed runner this weekend as Dame Rose returns to Newbury to lock horns again with her vanquisher here last time, Cap Soleil. We have an eight lbs swing this time around, with Fergal’s horse having to give us three lbs this time. We probably overdid the front-running tactics last time out having to give away the penalty, but we hope to make it more of a match this time. She’s in great form at home and with champion jockey Richard Johnson taking over in the saddle, we’re hopeful of a big run.
Etoo Sport is a new addition to the yard, coming from France, where he has had two starts over hurdles thus far, finishing third and sixth in those races. A three year old by Great Journey, he has entries in juvenile races at Fakenham and Market Rasen next week. We’re looking forward to see how he fares.
Finally
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