Back to normality and our first winter runner.

I rode out one lot in the rain on Tuesday and got absolute soaked! Barry and Peter started doing the conservatory for the new flat I am building, they really have done a good job as they have also replaced some windows and doors on my house. They also introduced me to a new owner of mine called Mark Hitchcroft. Mark came to stay on Tuesday night ready to see his two new horses on the gallops the next day. He has owned horses before, predominately on the flat but this is his first jump horse in awhile. I am hoping we can provide him with some winners and plenty of fun a long the way.

 

Wednesday morning Bridal Suite worked very well with Nimbus Gale. It seems the penny has dropped with Bridal Suite as he is really impressing me with his game attitude and way of going. Nimbus Gale shows plenty of quality in his work and seems very straight for a young horse. Miller Of Glanmire is showing plenty of speed so will be kept over 2m. All three horses still have shares available in them and are now almost ready to run. 

 

We schooled 10 horses on Thursday morning with Noel Fehily and Mark Grant. Attimo was very good again and jumped upsides Cody Wyoming who is a very good jumper too. Plum Stone jumped the baby hurdles very well. Nimbus Gale seems to have done a bit of schooling with his previous trainer as he is showing plenty of ability over hurdles. Area Access had his first pop and showed that he hadn't lost his touch. Royal Redemption jumped the hurdles, he was very neat and clever showing plenty of promise so we may take him straight over hurdles.

 

I took a filly back to an owner near Lingfield on Thursday and stupidly took my dog Lily with me in the cab. Every time the filly kicked Lily would dart underneath my feet which made using the pedals extremely difficult! We very nearly caused a pile up on the M4 when she jumped down and landed on the brake. I ended up having to put her in the back of the box with the filly only to watch her on the camera jumping up and nipping the filly's nose which at least stopped her kicking!

 

On Friday we picked up Latelo who has an extended holiday ready to start his novice season. He is a very well bred horse who oozes class. He is built to go jumping so wont have another bumper run.

On Saturday I worked Cody Wyoming, I was absolutely amazed by how quickly he flew up the gallops. I am sure he will have a good chance at winning first time out. Cedre Bleu and Verano worked very well, they look very exciting. Lord of House worked with Miller Of Glanmire  and Murray Mount worked with Royal Redemption. Murray Mount put in an excellent piece, he has a superb engine and has definitely grown up a bit from last year.

 

We had two runners at Kempton on Sunday. Paul Mott took great care of us all as he had taken the Lanzarote Suite for the day. We had a very good reunion of owners and a nice lunch. Unfortunately Sureness ran flat showing us she needs her holiday, I think the ground was also a bit dead for her. She will go away to Colin Tinklers for a few weeks, to get out of the office as it were! Sands Cove ran a nice race to finish second, he is the first of our winter ground horses and on that basis he was a good bench mark. He will come on from the run and must win a race soon as he goes on any ground at any course, jumps well and is very consistent.

 

 

 

Seventh Sky runs this afternoon at Plumpton, there are a couple to beat but I am hoping the step up in trip will suite him if he settles in the early stages, he will wear ear plugs down to the start in a bid to help this. He is a difficult horse to get fit at home so may just need the race but Gavin seems confident in him.

 

We have started to clip a few and they look very well under their woolly coats. Foxy has got a nice routine going in the yard and even for a Monday morning everyone seems very bright and cheery!

Velka Pardubicka committee larger obstacle than the Taxis

I am now back on British soil, no thanks to British Airways flight delays of 6 hours over both flights. We arrived in Czech at 3.30am on Friday morning having had a very long journey out. We were out of bed fairly early after not much sleep as I wanted to show Mark Grant the fences and school Lambro over a number of them. The schooling session went well, he jumped the bank and the wall and various other fences all without a lead leaving us feeling pretty confident afterwards. Having had a few difficulties arranging hospitably for the owners previous to my arrival I had a meeting with Hana (our liaison out there) on Friday afternoon, it was quite clear that they had no interest in having foreign runners and were not prepared to offer any hospitably other than entrance tickets and eventually badges for the paddock. They did not even suggest something we could pay for!

 

On Saturday after battling over night with the mosquitoes in our hotel room we went to the racecourse to see Lambro do a canter before heading into Prague. We met with the owners for a fantastic lunch at the Palffy Place. It really is one of Prague's gems, it was the most beautiful castle and served delicious food and wine. Lunch lasted until late afternoon after which Katya and I headed back to Pradubice to focus on events the next day. I gather most of the owners and some other English supporters had a huge supper at the Buddha Bar hotel and judging by a few sore heads in the morning that some absinthe may have been involved!

On Sunday morning I was up early to walk the course with Mark Grant again. The weather was quite warm so I am glad we managed to clip him before he left England. There was a parade of ex jockeys that had won the Pardubice so I was asked to take part in this, again in typical Czech style it was organised at the eleventh hour. It was amazing to see familiar faces from my time back in 1995, three of which were riding in this years race!

 

When the owners arrived we based our selves in the not so glamorous stable yard canteen outside the weighing room with some warm beer in plastic glasses!  Eventually we made it to one of the grandstands where we had been given some numbered seats, at least there we could find the odd bottle of Champagne there! Lambro seemed to handle all the preliminaries well including the parade but had got rather hot. In the race itself Mark jumped off and got a lovely position midfield down the inside when he got to the fourth fence the Taxis Lambro ran a little bit to his left and by doing so jumped straight into the horse that had fallen in front of him. Mark did well to stay on him but he had lost a lot of ground. There was very little time to regain his confidence before the fifth fence which was a large bank leaving him slow over the obstacle in last place . However he had plenty of time to work his way back into the race and had a lovely position travelling well in the middle of the field before slipping after the large water which threw away chance of finishing higher up the order. Mark enjoyed his ride and was very glad he put his stirrups down a hole in the paddock!

Speaking to a Swedish Trainer on Sunday he had experienced similar problems with the lack of hospitality. It seems there is a new committee organising the meeting who didn't seem to have a clue how to look after anyone associated with the horses as it was clear to see that local trainers were also having the similar problems. It was very different to previous trips out there where everyone was so well looked after. I remember there was even a party in the castle on Sunday night for everyone involved, if that happened again this year we definitely weren't on the invite list! At the end of the day the horse is in one piece and now almost at the ferry port  so will be home safe and sound shortly and I think despite all the troubles our owners had a lovely trip mainly due the great camaraderie between everyone and the lovely time they had staying in Prague. I will post some pictures of the weekends events when we have them all.

In other stable news it is back to earth with a bump with two lots in the pouring rain. We are now concentrating on getting some winners over here. We have entries at Cheltenham and Kempton over the weekend. The horses all seem to be coming to hand quite quickly and are in terrific form. Gavin, Mark, Crosse and Johnny schooled 9 horses last Thursday morning. All the older handicap chasers had a pop and Attimo was electric over fences being tried over these for the first time. We also schooled a couple of young horses that will run over hurdles for the first time. I will do plenty more schooling over the next couple of weeks to make sure they are all sharp and well prepared.

 

 

Saturday work morning videos

Back of The Hill Gallop,

First pair Sureness far side with Portmonarch. Second pair, Cedre Bleu leads Nimbus Gale in the Middle and Area Access on the near side.

By third lot the sun had come out and we worked a few on Charlie' Bank.

The first pair are Champagne N Caviar far side with Verano the chestnut. Second pair Murray Mount far side and Miller of Glanmire nearside. With Sands Cove following them up.

Pardubice Update - Hot favourite

Charlie, Katya and Mark Grant arrived in Pardubice late last night. They were at the course early this morning to give Lambro a school over some over the obstacles he will face in the race. Reports are that both trainer and jockey are very happy with him, he has really risen to the challenge and jumped the banks and ditches exceptionally. He was the only horse schooling this morning and jumped everything without a lead taking Mark nicely into everything. He is very fresh and looks to have come on a lot since his run at Warwick.

 

 

 

Charlie is now boasting that we have the favourite for the race but anything can happen and we just hope horse and jockey get round in one piece. We will let you know how we get on!

 

Telegraph mention

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/11144290/Racing-diary-Brewer-steers-clear-of-the-double-barrels.html

How not to sell a horse...

With the quick update yesterday on Lambros travel out to Czech  I missed out the last weeks events.

 

I worked Seventh Sky last Wednesday with another trainers horse, I have yet to find a horse in Lambourn that can go with him as he is so quick. He does a take a bit of getting ready but he should be out by the end of the month. Also that morning I was trying to sell an owner of mine a share in a horse, I decided to let Philippa Holland ride him in a little bit of work round back of the hill, having said at breakfast in front of the prospective owner she must make sure she doesn't muck it up she actually failed to make it on the gallops having been left behind at the start. Unbelievably Andy Durham still saw enough to impress him and purchased a share in Miller Of Glanmire who did make it up the gallops when we had all got in the car to go home! It was rather embarrassing to say the least!

 

On Thursday Mark Hitchcroft came to see the yard for the first time, he had been introduced to me via a friend who has been supplying the windows in the new houses. After seeing a few horses paraded and a nice lunch at The Hare Mark had purchased Murray Mount and the Unnamed Beat All Gelding, it must have been a good lunch! We are looking forward to having him on board and wish him all the success with his two lovely horses.

 

Lambro ran at Warwick in the 3m chase on Thursday afternoon, he had to get round to qualify to run in the Pardubice so we were all on tenterhooks. He was given a lovely positive ride by Mark Grant to finish fourth. The next day he was trotted up in the dark to see whether he was fit and sound to declare him by 7am for the race itself. As you can see from my blog yesterday he has been travelling through Europe and has today arrived safety in Pardubice. He has had a lovely hack around the racecourse this afternoon and seems none the worse for all his travels. The next couple of days he will be cantered ahead of schooling on Friday with Mark Grant.

 

I went to Thomas Greenall's wedding to Annabel Sheppard at Claridge's on Friday afternoon, it was a lovely day and also a good chance to catch up with many racing folk. I was home at 9.30pm ready to pack for my next journey to Spain for the weekend where I was attending a bit of a lads weekend ahead of the season.

 

Today I rode Verano and Western King. Western King is running in a competitive £20,000 chase at Ludlow tomorrow, it would be nice for him to get in the money as he did winning at Ludlow last October but it has been a long season for him now.

 

All the horses are now doing two bits of work each week and with the rain now coming (in abundance) it seems that the horizon is in sight. Foxy is getting very well and the horses looks good and are feeling very fresh so we are all getting very excited for the first couple of runners.

Pardubice Update

After qualifying at Warwick it was full steam ahead last Thursday to get Lambro out to Czech. He came out of the race well and was declared on Friday morning for the Pardubice, he had a nice hack around the village and seemed really perky.

 

On Saturday morning Mark Grant came in to give him a little pop over a small double in the school, more than anything doing little things like this has kept his eye in and helped keep him nice and fresh.

Tom Fillery and Pea Wallace arrived at 4am on Sunday morning to load Lambro up for is voyage to the Czech. By 4pm on Sunday the three of them had made it safely to Colonge Racecourse in Germany for their first night stop over.

 

Today they have travel down through Germany to a place called Neumarkt! Tomorrow is the last leg of the journey through Czech to arrive at the racecourse at about midday. Reports are that he has been an absolute gentlemen travelling like an old pro and eating and drinking well.

 

Mark and I are travelling out on Thursday evening so that we are able to school him over some of the fences on Friday morning, the bigger hedges wont be jumped but it is a good opportunity to jump some of the drops and banks.

 

On the non horse side of the trip Rose has been busy in the office planning the logistics for the owners - most importantly where the best places are to eat and drink!