Morney Wing WINS at Haydock & Gowanauthat WINS at Ludlow

On Wednesday 29th December it was very windy and we couldn't take the horses up the back of the hill because of the weather. We worked them up my old gallop as it is more sheltered. We had runners at Taunton and Haydock today. Tess drove my son William and I to Taunton. We ran Morney Wing at Haydock. He hadn't run for a while as we had been sorting out his ulcers and he made all the running, jumped beautifully and won nicely, which was a big relief! Morney Wing is owned by The Steeplechasers syndicate; it was great to train them their first winner! Fine Parchment ran a nice race and made all the running, jumping beautifully to finish 3rd. Unfortunately they took out one of the fences which was not ideal for Parchy, as his jumping is such a strength.

Morney Wing WINS at Haydock!

Morney Wing

We schooled three horses on Thursday; Dukes Den, Gowanauthat & My Anchor. I took the children to The Malt Shovel for lunch. I had dinner at Annabelle McCalmont's on New Years Eve. The kids saw the New Year in in the hot tub and I hope 2016 is good for all of us.

Denis O'Regan came in to ride out two lots on Friday before he headed off to Cheltenham for a ride in the bumper. We had a very good lunch at Cheltenham as we were running Seventh Sky in a big race there. Seventh Sky ran a good race to finish 5th, but they went quick enough for him early on; he stayed on a bit one paced, but he picked up some prize money and certainly didn't disgrace himself!

We had a nice chap in for breakfast on Saturday called Ian, as a Red Letter Day guest. I lit the fire and watched the racing on the telly with some good racing from Sandown. I thought the final of the veterans chase was a great success! We had drinks at James Repard's on Saturday night and then went to The Palm for a very good dinner.

On Sunday we had Simon Kimber and Julie, Nick Trott and Lizzie over, as they came to see their horses after their recent victories. We then had a very good lunch in The Malt Shovel. 

We all got rather wet on Monday morning (as usual) and Tommy Dowling drove me to Ludlow races where we had two runners. I had lunch with Anthony and Wendy Smith and Mark Hitchcroft. Dukes Den ran a nice race and finished 4th, so hopefully we will get a handicap mark now. We ran Gowanauthat in the 3mile chase and Tommy rode him very well to win by a neck in a hands and heels contest.

Gowanauthat being led back to the stables by Matty

Gowanauthat being led back to the stables by Matty

We have a lot of horses that want better ground than we have right now, which is a little frustrating as they are all fresh and well, but we are limited with what we can run where as the ground just won't suit.

Gowanauthat & Tommy on their way back to the winners enclosure at Ludlow

Gowanauthat battling all the way to the line to win the 3.20 at Ludlow!

We will have a fairly quiet week this week runners wise because of the wet ground.