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.