The Three To Follow is back!

It's not just the turf season that returns this week but also our hugely popular Three To Follow competition. More details can be found at the end of this blog.

Firstly, it's on to the most important matter - the horses.
It wasn't a bad week runners-wise with a few horses putting in good efforts and finishing in the money. It was encouraging to see both Candesta and Avidly running well as they have both had problems and hopefully we are getting on top of them and a win isn't too far away.
Meddling ran a bit below par when favourite at Lingfield on Friday for no apparent reason. She didn't travel with her usual zest and it may have just been that she got in behind a few horses and sulked a bit. She is better than this effort and I hope she can get back to form next time.

Looking on to this week, we are straight into action at Wolverhampton tomorrow. Tight Lipped has put in some good runs for us over the winter but just found one mile way too short for him last time. He's back up in trip and had a little pop over some hurdles at the weekend to freshen him up. He has run over hurdles once before for previous connections but he seemed to have forgotten that and put in some hairy jumps!

Tight Lipped (Ross) goes jumping

To help the inexperienced jumpers out I usually accompany them with a more experienced partner to show them the ropes and, although we don't have any national hunt horses in at the minute, good old Silver Alliance is a great jumper and thoroughly enjoys lending a hand.

Silver Alliance (Adam) shows him how it's done

Back on the level, it was a busy morning on Saturday with plenty of horses to be put through their paces.
The turf season kicks off at the weekend with the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster and we will be represented on Sunday with Guising. He was bought last autumn and given a winter holiday after not showing much form for his previous trainer. He is fresh and well now and has done plenty of work so should be fit enough. I don't really know what his level is at the moment so it will be a bit of a fact-finding mission with him.

Guising (Ross), Dakota City (Mark) & Attain (Adam)

Dakota City was bought at the same time as Guising and he too was given a winter holiday. He has done very well for the break and is a bull of a horse now. He showed some decent form in three French runs so I hope he will be good enough to win a maiden here before going on to bigger things. He has just started his faster work so will hopefully be hitting the course next month.
Attain has come out of his win last time in good order and seems very pleased with himself. He acts well on the all-weather so I will try to find a similar race for him.

Our two-year olds have been a pleasure to train this year without any major problems. A couple of them have a bit of a cough at the moment so that has set them back a week or two but other than that they are going well.
Go On Gal seems to be the most forward of the lot and, all being well, could make her debut as early as this Saturday at Kempton. It is usually a very good race, as shown by last year's winner of it - Tiggy Wiggy - but our filly looks ready for a run and the experience will do her plenty of good and should give her a head-start on her rivals in the coming months.

Go On Gal (Mark)

The return of the turf means the return of the legend that is The Ducking Stool. Now 8-years old, she shows no signs of slowing down and has come out of her winter holiday in rude health. It's a shame that her beloved Yarmouth won't be re-opening after maintenance work until the summer but she showed last season that she is more than capable of running well at other tracks so I hope she can finally break her hoodoo and win somewhere else other than by the seaside!

The Ducking Stool (Tina)

Bushy Glade put in a career best effort to finish second last time and she goes from strength to strength. She looks fantastic and I hope she can follow up that good run next time. I have entered her for Wolverhampton on Thursday but there are lots of entries and she might miss the ballot.

Bushy Glade (Megan)

Harry Bosch was bought by one of my owners a few months back with the intention of running him at Windsor's popular Monday evening fixtures and that looks to still be the plan as his training has been going well. He hasn't won in a while but Windsor is where he has run best so maybe a return to there could perk him up again when the time comes.

Harry Bosch (Ryan)

Many of you would have seen a few weeks ago that our star mare Bavarica had her second foal and this week they returned back to us. He is by first-season sire Cityscape and looks outstanding with a great character. It's hard to tell at this stage whether he will be fast or not but that's not a bad thing as it means I can dream that he will be a champion!

Bavarica's Cityscape colt

One month old but already a handful!

THREE TO FOLLOW COMPETITION

Due to popular demand, the Three To Follow is back!
The format is simple: pick three horses from our yard to score you points throughout the season - 5 points for a win, 3 for a second and 1 for a third.
The only rule is that you pick ONE horse from Pool A (two-year olds and three-year olds) and TWO horses from Pool B (older horses). When you've made your mind up, email your choices to rbirkett1989@hotmail.co.uk
The competiton runs from 28th April - 7th November so don't delay - get your entries in and you could win the £100 first prize!

POOL A (Two and three-year olds) PICK ONE
Inauguration
Big Bang
Moment To Dream
Duke Of Diamonds
Unnamed (Archipenko colt)
Serendib's Glory
It's A Sheila Thing
Little Orchid
Go On Gal

POOL B (Older horses) PICK TWO
Dakota City
Silver Alliance
Vastly
Harry Bosch
Tight Lipped
Meddling
Avidly
Veeraya
Automotive
Bethan
Attain
The Ducking Stool
Honeymoon Express
Bushy Glade
Guising
Candesta
Handheld