Be Scared AP!

While we are on the subject of rain, I find it hard to believe that some of the courses are still watering their ground.  At Leicester the course officials have felt it prudent to water the ground – trainers will have entered their horses on good/firm ground, but now following heavy rain on their artificially watered going the ground is now soft for this afternoon’s flat meeting.  Meanwhile, our local track, Newton Abbot holds a jumps fixture tomorrow (Tuesday) and they have had no less than 63mm of rain over the weekend turning their (watered) ground to soft, heavy in places.  Consequently and unusually I will not be having any runners at the meeting.

I am not convinced that we should be watering the ground – would it not be better to lose a handful of meetings in the summer due to firm ground rather than losing fixtures due to overwatering?  This would also reduce the pressure on the clerks of the courses to produce “perfect” ground for every fixture.

The rain had certainly worked its way into the ground at Listowel last week where the going was officially described as heavy.  We had a couple of runners, Premier Dane in the feature Kerry National and The Pier in the two mile handicap hurdle.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the best of trips for us with The Pier failing to handle the gluey, bottomless ground and Premier Dane taking a nasty fall.  I am saddened to report that our ten year old sustained an injury during his tumble and despite the best efforts of the local vets; we were unable to save him.  It is terribly sad for the owners and everyone in the yard – although the ten year old had only been with us for his three previous starts, he had quickly become a great favourite around the place owing to his kind and placid demeanour.  He had been a real revelation since joining us at Pond House, winning his first three starts, including a career best effort when convincingly landing Newton Abbot’s valuable hurdle on his penultimate start and I am sure that there was more to come.

I have to say that I think the Irish have the right idea when it comes to reserve runners.  I was watching the meeting from Ayr on Saturday where they were holding their Gold, Silver and Bronze Cups.  There were no fewer than four non-runners in each of the Bronze and Silver Cups and a further non-runner in the Gold.  Surely a reserve system akin to the Irish would be a good idea?  We occasionally have reserves in some of the races over here, but the deadline is the day before the race and so if a runner is pulled out on the day of the race, the reserves cannot participate.  The Irish are far more flexible as illustrated by reserve runner Faltering Fullback’s success in the Kerry National; allowing reserves the opportunity to race right up until mid-morning on the day of the race.  I would have thought that this is something that we should be looking into implementing in this country at all of the big meetings on the flat and over jumps.

I was pleased to see Conor O’Farrell ride a winner at Uttoxeter on Sunday when he booted On Alert to victory in the three mile novices’ handicap hurdle for former jockey Seamus Durack.  It was Conor’s first ride for the yard and it was good to see him in the winners’ enclosure again – it can be very difficult for these jockeys (particularly those that have just ridden out their claims) during the summer, there are only limited opportunities unless they have a stable jockey’s position.  Conor is a very capable jockey, a good horseman who communicates his feedback well - I am sure that other trainers will start to use him when the season gets busier.

Finally, I thought that you might like to see a picture of the new addition to the yard…his name is Teddy, he is eighteen years old and is my son Jack’s first pony.  As you can imagine, the kids absolutely love him – they enjoy grooming him and Jack and his friends have already been for a few rides.  I reckon that A P McCoy will be trembling in his boots at the very site of this picture!