Great Run From Ramses

Well I am pleased to report that Leanne and I have made it to the Maldives and are on day one of our belated honeymoon. I’m sure you will be delighted to know that the islands are as picturesque as they are on the TV and the weather is sunny and hot!! We travelled over from Gatwick to Dubai before we changed for our flight to Male and the last leg to our island was by sea plane. While I am looking forward to a nice break I shall be in regular contact with the yard and keeping an eye on everything from afar.

Last Week

It was pretty quiet on the runner’s front for the stable last week and this was for a number of reasons. Several horses ran over Christmas, lots have had their flu jabs and there were simply not the right races for many of them. After a busy Festive period we were reduced to just one jumps meeting a day last week. I do think this is a good thing, it just meant there weren’t options for some of the horses. D’jango outran his odds in the Sussex National at Plumpton on Monday to be third. Stamina is his forte and he stayed on well without reaching the leaders. The Somerset National at Wincanton later this month is next on his radar.

On Saturday Ramses De Teillee ran a cracker to be second in the Veterans Chase Final at Sandown under top weight. He jumped and travelled well towards the front of the field and the race went perfectly until the eventual winner sneaked a few lengths clear after jumping the Pond Fence. Ramses was always playing catch up after this and despite galloping on really strongly up the Sandown hill after the last and gaining with every stride, the line just came to soon and we were only beaten 2¼ lengths. He has come out of the race well which is the main thing and at the grand age of eleven he is in terrific form. He remains in great heart, loves life and when he can breathe he is a really talented racehorse. There are some more nice veteran or staying chases to come this this season and I am sure he can win again. I would love a few more horses like him! Poseidon ran well to a point in a competitive handicap hurdle on Sandown. The ground was probably too soft and he probably ran a little too keen in the early part of the race to do himself justice at the end. He will give our Racing Club Members a lot of fin going forwards.

On Sunday a bad mid race blunder from Duc De Beauchene ultimately cost him any chance at Chepstow while First Lord Du Cuet ran another cracker to be second. He has now finished second on all four of his chase starts and deserves to get his head in front soon.

This Week

It is a busier start to this week with four runners at Taunton on Monday and five at Exeter on Tuesday. It then is a little quieter towards the end of the week before weekend entries at Warwick. Keep checking the daily blog for more news of runners.

Weather Talk

The weather is playing its part in things once again and it just seems we are forever talking or complaining about it!! It does however affect things greatly both at home and on the racecourse. It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago we were praying for rain and the ground was too firm. We then had the really cold snap where everything got abandoned and now we have returned to nonstop rain, or so it seems! The roads were pretty bad travelling back from Sandown on Saturday where conditions on the course were testing. This week, Leicester’s meeting on Wednesday has already been abandoned due to Waterlogging and false patches of ground while Bangor also inspected this morning ahead of racing there on Thursday and that has also been abandoned. With plenty of rain forecast in the coming days more meetings could be lost this week. Lots of our staff are involved in point to pointing in the west country through either riding, training or owning horses and unfortunately the meeting scheduled for Buckfastleigh this weekend is abandoned. They abandoned this early last week as they could not even get the fences out onto the course to set up it is so wet! I know it is a popular meeting as it is a good course for horses and spectators so it is a shame for all concerned.