Trying to turn the tide

It’s been an incredibly frustrating week with the weather not going our way and races doing likewise.

Generous Genella went all the way to Doncaster on Thursday only to be withdrawn because the ground was too firm and the forecast rain never materialised. There was a fair bit of money for her during the day and, it is true to say, that she had been going well at home but we are not a yard who set out horses for a gamble so it was a surprise that she was so well backed. That’s Newmarket though – work watchers hide in trees to catch a secret glimpse of horses galloping strongly on the Heath and once the information is out, it spreads through the town like wildfire.
Salisbury didn’t bring us much luck later in the week either with the ground going against King Columbo and the race didn’t help him much too – there was no confirmed front runner and so the race was a very slowly run one.

It’s like banging your head against a brick wall at the minute with winners hard to come by but the same happens every year – midsummer is annually a quiet time for us as most of the horses have done all their winning earlier in the year and are suffering in the handicap as a result. The only thing that you can do is to keep doing what you have always done and the handicapper will eventually show some mercy and the winners will flow again.

Another trip to Scotland looks on the cards next week as we’ve got Night Orbit and Ocean Rosie in at Musselburgh on Thursday. Travelling vast distances is not what we like to do because mainly if it’s far for us to go, it’ll be far for the owners to go as well but the current weather situation has forced us to travel – both horses want soft ground and up north is the only place getting some rain.

It looks likely that we will have quite a few runners at the end of the week and the highlight will probably be Emma’s Gift who tackles handicap company for the first time. The handicapper has been pretty severe on her with a mark of 98 but we’ve managed to get our talented apprentice Adam Beschizza the ride (he was meant to be riding Sir Gerry in the Stewards Cup at Goodwood on the same day).

Hopefully Lady Luck will shine on us again.

The rain is a pain and falls mainly on the...

For weeks and weeks we've been desperate for some rain and the heavens have finally opened over the British Isles but have somehow completely missed Newmarket.
The fields are brown, the grass gallops are too firm and the heath resembles the Sahara desert as we continue in this mini drought.
King Columbo ran his usual consistent race at the July Course on Friday night but he, like a handful of our other horses, is desperate for some juice in the ground.
It was typical then that on the same day we ran Emma's Gift at Newbury. After her cracking run in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, we had high hopes she could land this Listed race but the ground rode very holding after a recent downpour and she struggled to plough through it. There will be better days ahead for her, that is for sure.

The two new horses, Blackmore and Khajaaly, who we bought at the July Sales last week have settled in really well and have recovered from their gelding operations. It's a policy we have here to get all the horses castrated as it keeps their mind on racing and it's just another way of improving a horse from a big yard. After all, they are unlikely to be stallions come the end of their career.

Next week could be a good one for us as we run a few horses who have major chances.
Exopuntia travels to Yarmouth on Monday in what is a very weak race. You can forget her last run as she didn't handle the undulations that Pontefract threw at her and on the form of her run before that, over one mile back at Yarmouth, she should go very close.
Generous Genella is a two year old who we think a lot of and she makes her racecourse debut at Doncaster on Thursday. Her home work has been very impressive and we go to Town Moor with great expectations.