In Limbo

Our new assistant/head lad 'Foxy' started work last Monday, he has come from Nigel Twiston-Davies. We are getting on very well and I am sure he will be a huge asset to the yard.

 

Monday Club lunch was in the Hare last week due to the Malt Shovels closure, I think that until it re opens we will be doing a bit of a pub tour for the next month or so. I left lunch early to go and pick up Katya's engagement ring, it was toss up between the purchase of the engagement ring and a new bathroom suite. Suffice to say there was no contest!

 

Lambro left for Perth on Tuesday morning as he had to complete a 3m chase to qualify for the Pardubice, I booked Brian Harding to ride him on the condition he rode him in the Pardubice. All he had to do was get round and finish. He dropped him in last and never got competitive, he pulled him up before the last fence. This means as we stand right now he is not qualified for the race. Lambro did not blow for long and the vet gave him the okay and noted that he had hardly had a race. I can't for the life of me figure out why he pulled him up when he did. It now means we have to run Lambro at Warwick on ground that is most likely to quick for him in order to qualify. It is not ideal as he will have to leave Lambourn on Sunday to travel out for the race the following Sunday. However after seeing him school round the Cross Country course at Lyneham yesterday it should all be worth it as he seems to be an absolute natural and a perfect type for the Pardubice.

On Thursday I did something I haven't done for  a very long time.....I schooled Mr Big over 9 fences (video already up on the previous post) I have to say I really enjoyed it. I later went to watch my daughter Tildie play hockey at St Edwards in Oxford, she played really well and her team won 4-1. Victoria my sister had come down from Scotland to stay for a few days and made it just in time to join us for a lovely family supper.

 

On Friday it was another day for things I have not done fore a while, I rode out 2 lots then drove Almost Gemini to the races! We have got no one eligible to drive our big box at the moment, it is becoming a bit of a bore with all the qualifications needed to drive these boxes. I am looking forward to our new 2 boxes arriving. Almost Gemini finish third on his Novice Chasing debut. He jumped very well, on the back of this he will go to the sales in November and should appeal to those wanting a nice Pointer this season.

 

My new parents in law came round for a lovely lunch on Saturday, we had a very nice afternoon watching the Ryder Cup and the Racing. We have now got the painters in inside and out and builders everywhere, I have to keep retiring to my office after lunch to get some peace and quiet!

 

I rode Plum Stone this morning, she is defiantly one of the more forward ones.  She has  been doing some jumping in the ring in preparation for her first run over hurdles. I hope to get her on the course at the end of October. I have been riding Cedre Bleu a lot recently, I am trying to keep him fresh by changing his routine every day using different gallops. Most of the horses have now done two little bits of work. Nimbus Gale has really been impressing me , he seemed very green when he first arrived but this does not come through in his work where he is very straight.

 

Bridal Suite is going well at home, Lawrie has been riding him and thinks he is very game. The other new horse Miller of Glanmire has been going about his routine well and is now really using himself having been ridden out recently in a bungee which has been lowering his head helping him work more from behind. Both did good bits of work on Saturday.

 

All the horses coats are still gleaming and bar a few that are starting to look as though their coats are just starting to come we might get away with not having to clip any for a little while yet. We still have more arrivals coming in, this week Area Access's half sister arrived from their breeder Heather Silk. She is by Milan and has a striking resemblance to him. She is small but if she has the attitude that he does then she could do well. The three young store horses that we bought are now just starting to grow up. They are going about their business well although Run To the Rhythm can still put in some rather hairy bucks! I think the 'Beat All' is the most forward at this time.

 

We now seem a bit in limbo with the summer jumpers slowing down and the main string not quite ready yet so I am getting rather itchy feet. But at least jump racing is back on Channel Four which means the season proper is imminent at least!

Charlie Schooling

A head of Almost Gemini run, I decided that on his last schooling session yesterday I would give Gavin  a lead on Mr Big over the schooling fences on the all weather. It has been a awhile since I last schooled but it seems I have not lost any of my ability, maybe I should show the young boys how to do it more often!

 After Gavin schooled Plum Stone for the first time around our ring. I am very impressed with how well she went. She seemed to take it all in her stride and really enjoyed it with a natural jump to.

Sure thing

Noel Fehily came in on Tuesday and rode couple of lots for us, at this time of year he doesn't get in much as he is off riding out around the country so it is great when he does have time to make it in. Later that day a caterer came in to give us a quote for the food at our wedding, it was nearly a £100 a head so I showed him the door pretty quickly!

 

We worked four horses on Wednesday. Sureness and Almost Gemini went to the back of the hill and both put in a good bit and Lambro worked with Seventh Sky. It was Seventh Sky's first bit, he looks a like a massive bull of a thing at the moment so we will need to get cracking with him. That afternoon I drove to Preston to take a look at a new two box that we are having made. We have decided to trade in our large horse box as it is now becoming difficult to find anybody qualified to drive it. We will now have two small boxes which anyone can drive.

 

On Thursday Gavin Sheehan came in to school, he jumped Sureness who showed a little bit of life giving a quick whip round (she is incredibly lazy, I even took a blood test to make sure she was feeling alright as you just wouldn't know from what she shows at home!) and Almost Gemini for the first time over fences, he actually showed plenty of scope so fences may well bring out the best in him - we will see though.

 

I have had builders in the house all week, we have a new kitchen floor and all sorts of other refurbishments, it really is starting to look great but with so many people in the house I have felt like a stranger in my own home, I will be glad when we can resume to normal!

 

We had four red letter days in on Saturday morning which was good timing as it was the first morning I planned to set up the routine and work a couple. Most of them did two canters upsides with the second time going a half speed.  Plum Stone and Royal redemption looked fabulous and shouldn't take long to come to hand. The horses that had wind ops are still a little bit behind the others but they are now doing two canters and coping with that well.

 

Michael and Mandy Bowlby jumped a horse around our loose school on Sunday and then stayed for a nice lunch. We watched Sureness win a novice hurdle at Plumpton after pudding! She was very badly in on the weights having won three novice hurdles so she carried a large penalty against those rated higher than her but I didn't fancy the look of the handicap she was entered in. She drifted out in the betting to 12-1 which put us on the edge of our seats however shouldn't have been so nervous as she won really well, lunch went on for a little longer after that! She will unfortunately be crucified by the handicapper but being a 4yo she has plenty more to come. I will take a look at races for her next month but she may well have a little holiday now.

 

There are some pictures of her on www.sdphotos.co.uk 

 

Our new Head Lad / Assistant Trainer 'Foxy' started today, he comes from Nigel Twiston-Davis' with a great reference. We are looking forward to having him on board and hope he will be a great asset to the team.

One hell of a weekend!

We were all very busy on Friday putting the finishing touches to the yard before the weekend. Even Rose was out pulling manes for all of her lunch break! I have to say it was a pretty nerve wracking day for us all not knowing what to expect with our first public open day looming the following day.

 

On Saturday we pulled out 1st lot at 6am, we rode out 3 lots straight away, Lawrie Gill and Emily Scott came in to ride a couple each helping to get all the horses ridden by 10am. The lads did a super job and didn't not stop all morning. I rode 1st lot myself  before having breakfast with our two Red Letter Day guests Dawn and Andy and Mr & Mrs Kimber who came to see our horses for sale. It was their second trip to Neardown and after a trip up the gallops they decided to purchase the remaining 50% share in Royal Redemption. It is great to have them on board in such a lovely horse. When we arrived back from the gallops I found out that the people coming in to do the catering for the Open Day had suddenly let us down. It was all hands on deck and amazingly it turned out that Andy was a whizz with the BBQ and whipped up our guests some hot food all day. I owe Dawn, Andy and Roses mother Jackie a massive thank you for their hard work and humour that kept us all going.

 

 

 

 

The open day was a great success, we had about 200 new faces through the gates during the day. The horses were all paraded and behaved impeccably and looked extremely well. Mr Big also had a bit of school with Gavin Sheehan showing everyone how its done. The Morris Dancers then took over for the afternoon and once again I showed them how it was done-I believe there are a few videos of me going around! It was great to meet so many racing enthusiasts and show them 'behind the scenes'. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and insightful day and didn't noticed our small hitch!

 

 

 

 

 

The day didn't stop there as following on from the open day Katya and I had our engagement party up at the house. A copious amount of champagne was drunk in a short space of time and we all let our hair down a little but handily it meant that it wasn't a very late night as we had to be up early on Sunday for our owners lunch. No rest for the wicked!

 

Everyone was in to set up for the owners lunch at 10am on Sunday, there were a few sore heads amongst us all but we all knuckled down and got the show back on the road. With amazing fate we had a glorious day and laid a lovely long table down the centre of our court yard. The contingency plan was to lay the table down the middle of the horse barn if rain struck but luckily for the second year running we were bathed in sun for most of the day. With great thinking from the more sober people on Saturday night a couple of cases of Champagne were hidden to provide the owners with Champagne reception to toast the coming of the new season.

 

 

 

We ate fillet of  beef and dauphinoise  potatoes with some lovely fresh beans. Cheese and chocolates followed as did more wine! It was a brilliant day and I thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with lovely owners and hope they enjoyed the day as much as we all did. It could not have been done better by our team of merry helpers, Rose and Jackie, the sunday chef Avery Ffrench Davis, and the wonderful duo Helen Whitfield and Emma Frampton and the children William and Charlotte who all worked tirelessly all weekend.

 

Today has been a struggle for the humans at Neardown but the horses seem as well as ever!

Five To Follow

So results from October 2013 - September 2014 FIVE TO FOLLOW are in;

WELL DONE TO BRYAN BEACHAM. Impressive as not only did he top the leader board with his Five to Follow selections but his two horses also topped the leader board! Well done to Christine Holt and Sue Welch who both had the 3 top scoring horses in their selections.

Bryan a cheque for £195 is coming your way! Christine, Sue and Bryan Borrough (last years winner)prize money is on its way to you as well.  A donation to the IJF will also be made.

You will be able to make entry's for this years Five To Follow at our OPEN DAY so get yourselves down here on Saturday!

AREA ACCESS (IRE)	46		Bryan Beacham	140
LORD OF HOUSE	42		Christine Holt*	130
SEVENTH SKY	42		Sue Welch*	130
SANDS COVE (IRE)	26		Bryan Burrough	128
ELMORE BACK (IRE)	22		Marie Ellis	122
FINE PARCHMENT	20		Simon Beccle	122
WESTERN KING	20		Harry Bannister	120
WHO OWNS ME	20		Gine Cohen	116
SHOCKINGTIMES	16		Terry & Gill Simmons	112
SCEPTICISM (USA)	12		Dave Coster	110
DUKE OF MONMOUTH	10		Tim Stutt	100
LATELO	10		Gary Bradley	100
PLUM STONE	10		Philippa Burrough	96
AIRMEN'S FRIEND	8		Rose Osborn	94
LOW GALES (IRE)	2		Sophie Round	90
VICTOR LEUDORUM	2		Cathy Leuchars	88
			Marie Ellis	86
			Amiee King	86
			Tony Holt	86
			Trevor King	84
			Simon Beccle	84
			Rose Osborn	84
			Helen & Charlotte	78
			Archie Bannister	74
			Gill Gladders	74
			Fiona Stonehouse	68
			Richard Curry	68
			Angelica Tonnbee-Clarke	64
			Jane Ashby	62
			Julia Bannister	56
			Bryan Beacham	54
			Carol Coster	48
			Juliet Thornhill	48
			Helen & Charlotte	36
			Nick Quesnel	34
			Nick Bannister	30
			Anne Swerling	26
			Joanne Hoaream	24
			Sue van Heyningen	12

OPEN DAY THIS SATURDAY

OPEN DAY

SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER

11am - 4pm

 

FREE ENTRY

 

Trade stands, hot and cold food, bar and morris dancers!

 

Parade of Horses at 12 noon

 

Schooling Demo at 1.30pm

All welcome to come and take a look round our fantastic yard and take a sneaky look inside one of Lambourn newest purpose built yards. You can meet our great team of staff and our lovely horses and maybe even take away a few tips for the forthcoming season!

BHA bonkers over break

Last week I rode out most mornings paying special attention to riding the new recruits.  I especially like the look of Royal Redemption, Noel has been in to ride him a few times and has confirmed that there is lots of potential there. Major John Thorneloe and his wife Veronica who used own Masked Man have bought a quarter share in him this week and I am sure the remaining half share will go in him very quickly.

 

Looking at all the horses this morning they are still holding their summer coats well and look like they are getting fit. I have slightly upped the exercise this week as they are now all cantering up the short gallop before doing two slightly more forward canters on my gallop.

 

We have nine days of no jump racing starting on Thursday. I think the BHA are absolutely bonkers over the timing of this break. The schools have gone back and the trainers and most importantly Jockeys have all this holiday when their children are back at school. The BHA must wise up to the fact that Jockeys with families have very little opportunity to take time out with their families.

 

I did something I haven't done in a very long time on Wednesday, I went to see a Vicar! I didn't  even know you could get married in a church if you had been married before but it turns out you can. This means our wedding will be at St Michaels Church in Lambourn on the 23rd December. No doubt it will be the society wedding of the year, I have already made calls to Hello magazine and the Daily Mail paparazzi!

 

We have all been hard at work preparing the yard for the OPEN DAY we have on Saturday. It is the first year that we have decided to host a public open day so I hope we get a good turn out. On Sunday we will are having a Sunday Lunch for our owners.

 

Almost Gemini ran last Monday at Huntingdon, it is fairly obvious he doesn't like hurdles so he will run back on the flat before the sales.

 

Ussee ran at Southwell on Wednseday, it was her first time over 3m and she didn't quite see the trip out. I fear she may also be a little one paced. Western King ran on Saturday at Stratford, the course would not to have been to his liking and he carried top weight but he ran very well and finished 3rd. He has come out of the race superbly so before the ground goes for him I will try and get him out again quickly.

 

I hope to see you all on Saturday, lets hope the sun shines on us and we have a fantastic day.

Work Morning Video

This morning we had our first red letter day morning since April. It was very nice to have people back in the car to watch the horses. We took three of the summer horses for a piece of work on Back of The Hill gallop, Rose led on Western King on the far side, Lambro and Johnny came up the middle and Ben joined on the nearside on Sureness, they all did a very nice bit which I was pleased with. Katya and Elizabeth also came up to watch and Elizabeth did some excellent camera work. Hopefully we will get some more videos up like this (with a little less fog!).

Ussee runs today in the 4.15pm race at Southwell. It looks to be a good race for her as long as she can bounce back from only running 11 days ago.

Pardubice schooling for Lambro

Lambro having his first pop in the school on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Wedmin vs Open Day Preperations

After an eventful week in Cornwall I am now coming to terms with the fact I am going down the aisle once again and have plans this afternoon to find a date and book the church. I have the Monday Lunch Club at the Malt Shovel today, top of the agenda is where to have my stag do!

 

Almost Gemini runs at Huntingdon today in the novice h'cap hurdle. I hope he runs some sort of race as after changing parts of his training routine I think he is better than I have had him before. However I am still not convinced that I have got to the bottom of him.

 

I rode Lambro this morning, he seems in very good form and may get an entry for Newton Abbot next Monday. He will need a run before the Pardubice and as he has been dropped by the handicapper I can run him over fences in preparation. He has three options between now and the declaration stage. I am going to school him a bit this week, I will get him jumping some poles in the school and practice a double too.

 

Ussee is entered in a maiden and a handicap at Southwell on Wednesday, I will look at how the races cut up tomorrow morning but I have also entered her in another mares race at Fontwell on Sunday.  Western King has an entry at Stratford on Saturday, after his last run he was quite sore along his back which could explain his below par performance. He is feeling a lot happier now and is still fit.

 

Lord of House, Sands Cove and Fine Parchment were all ridden today for the first time after their wind ops and next week all the others will start to be ridden again. We had them all fit and strong before their operations and while they will be a bit behind the others I don't think it has set them back to much.

 

It is nice to be back at home and on the yard again. Everything has run smoothly in my absence and the horses look to be coming on really well. They are all doing two canters up fishers hill. My gallop has been closed for a week and is back open on Thursday. Once this is open the horses will start cantering up the short gallop first then doing two slightly stronger canters on my gallop.

 

I will be interviewing this week for a new head lad / assistant trainer, I have some really good people lined up to see and feel confident that we will find the right person for the job shortly. Our accommodation that we are renovating on site and a couple of house projects we have in the village seem to be coming along swiftly so shortly we can offer excellent accommodation which is a real benefit.

 

Our open day plans are coming along and with this we seem to be having plenty of interest in the horses we have for sale. It seems the case that over the next couple of weeks we will be putting together quite a few new syndicate options. We have had numerous requests for affordable  shares with small monthly payments and have a couple of suitable horses for this option. Please get in contact if you would like to put your name down for any of these syndicates. It is likely that the initial cost will be between £1,000 - £1500 and a monthly fee of £150-£200 depending on interest. Lots more information will be available at our open day and please don't hesitate to contact Charlie or Rose for more information.