I am sorry that I haven’t done a blog recently but I am sure
you will see that I have been very busy once I have given you a brief resume of
what has happened in the last 3 weeks!
We went to DJs wedding on May 2nd. He was my assistant trainer
for 2 seasons and he married a lovely girl called Harriet.
I went to the Tatts Golf Day on the Tuesday at Woburn
Abbey and played with my owner Mark Hitchcroft. Hitchy played very well and I
played to my usual standard!
We have turned a lot of our horses out early this year and
many went out in the first few weeks of May so we will be getting them back in
at the beginning of July.
We went to a big Election Day dinner at Barney Windsor-Clive’s
and celebrated late into the early hours … what a great result for the
Conservatives!
James Campbell-Grey and his wife Gabbs came to stay that
weekend and we had a very jolly time. I think they probably went back to London
for a rest!
We ran Verano in his first Novice Chase that week. He
jumped absolutely beautifully to finish 3rd. He needs softer ground
and is a very exciting prospect for this season. He has now gone on his
holidays.
We went to Royal Windsor Horse show and had a very nice lunch
with Sue Welch. We watched some very competitive show jumping and caught up
with lots of old friends. Hitchy and his lovely daughter Bella came to stay the
next day and she had great fun washing the children’s ponies that have just
come home for the Summer and having covered the lads with water she then had a
ride on both the ponies.
It was then off up to Hull to stay with Andy Stone for Brigitte’s
50th Birthday party. I was a very lively affair and was thoroughly enjoyed by
us all. We had a very good breakfast the next day and then set off to Doncaster
Sales.
The first day of Doncaster was tough as many of the horses
didn’t turn up but we did manage to buy a lovely horse called Morney Wing from
Sandra Hughes in Ireland. He is a big scopey 6yr old who has won a novice chase
and will hopefully win more over here. On the Tuesday we sold Always
Smiling and then bought a very nice horse called Quebec. He is a 4yr old and is
a winner on the flat and a winner of 2 of his 4 runs over hurdles. He will
either go handicap hurdling or novice chasing. I looked at the stores on the
Wednesday but didn’t manage to buy any. I watched the first race at Warwick from
Doncaster as we had To Begin running in it. He managed to beat a 10 to 1 on
shot and won at 10 – 1 against! I have never seen 20 points between the 1st
and 2nd favourites and I can’t remember beating a 10–1 on shot
before. He is a very nice horse and should win again.
On the Thursday we went to the Chelsea flower Show to see Katya’s
friend Travers and Katie Nettleton who had a wonderful stand there called
Garden Art. We had a lovely day as I always find the flower show
fascinating and we bought lots of plants. The beautiful weather did mean that
it was a little over crowded though! We then went on to Northamptonshire to have
dinner with Judy and John Hilton who had collected Patrick from school along
with their son Oscar. Having had a delicious dinner followed by bridge, table
tennis and snooker we finally got back to Neardown at 1.30 in the
morning.
We have had two very nice horses arrive from Germany:
Aspasius - a 3yr old who has been placed in a listed
race.
Baltic Storm - a 4yr old who ran in the German Derby last
year.
They are 2 very nice horses and hopefully will be winning
this season.
We had a big day on Sunday for the launch of the STEEPLECHASERS
syndicate which has kindly been set up by Bill Brindle and Andy Stone. We were
28 for lunch in total and it was a great day with 2 0f the 3 horses paraded (Some
Kinda Lama is on his holidays) and I think all 12 members are very pleased with
our purchases:
Some Kinda Lama
Morney Wing
Quebec
We ran Sands Cove at Uttoxeter and he finished 4th.
We feel that he will benefit from a change of scenery so will be going to the
sales next week.
We are busy steam cleaning, disinfecting and painting the
yard in preparation for the return of our horses in July.
