Winning Week!

    Our Yorkshire Three Peaks Conquerors!

It was great to get another a couple of winners last week from a limited amount of runners, taking our season winners tally to nine.  Myristica has been fantastic since joining our yard and has now won three of her four starts over hurdles with the minimum of fuss.  She is a gorgeous looking daughter of Harzand and what is best about her is her straight forward and genuine attitude.  She travels kindly through her races and jumps really well and responds when her jockey asks.  We will see what the handicapper does to her rating tomorrow but she does have an entry on the flat at Salisbury on Saturday although we may wait until Market Rasen the following weekend.

Bashful Boy is another horse who has had a terrific time of late and won at Newton Abbot over hurdles last Friday.  After two horrible but uncharacteristic falls on his last two jumps starts he has won two races on the flat, showing himself to be an improving very capable performer on the level with his rating now at 86.  The main aim of Friday was really for a confidence boosting clear round, having said that he was well enough treated on past form to have won, as he did, if this happened!! Our seven year old is in excellent heart having won his last three starts and there is more to come from him under both codes this summer.  He enjoys a quick surface and there are plenty of options for him going forwards.

This Week

There is a few days of no jumps action after Uttoxeter on Tuesday evening until it returns with two meetings on Sunday at Perth and Stratford.  Activist run at Uttoxeter and we hope he builds on a more promising run at the track last time.  Lady Reset has an entry on the flat at Newbury on Thursday and then we have a few entries over the weekend.  Keep checking the daily news for more information on the stable runners.

Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

Well done to Leanne, Gemma, Emma and Mandy for completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on Saturday in aid of Racing Welfare.  They had a very slow journey up to the Dales on Friday but stayed in the picturesque village of Giggleswick before an early start on Saturday morning.  Over 100 people took part in the event, walking 25 miles and climbing the three tallest peaks in Yorkshire in under 12 hours.  While unfortunately their route had to be modified mid-event due to the weather and threat of lightening it was a tough challenge and all the girls did really well completing it and having a few sore muscles and blisters to show for it!  The best thing is they have raised over £5,000 for Racing Welfare so congratulations to them on a tremendous effort and thank you to all of you that have donated.  The girls celebrated in the Black Horse Inn that night and were humbled by the generosity and kindness of the locals who helped them celebrate their achievement.  They highly recommend a visit to Giggleswick and the pub!  The girls are already planning their next challenge and they seem to think that I should join in the next one, we will see!

New Horse

We are delighted to have welcomed Jamaico to our equine team for the season ahead.  Purchased from Arqana Sales at Deauville last week by Hubert Barbe for Professor Caroline Tisdall he is a gorgeous big four year old son of Corkoriko who won a chase at Auteuil on his most recent start.  He arrived at the weekend and is settling in nicely and he looks a hugely exciting prospect for the season ahead.

IJF Jockeys Challenge

Last weekend they had a great team event at the new Injured Jockeys Hub based at Taunton rugby club to showcase the new facility.  Three teams, Current jockeys, Retired Jockeys and Amateur Jockeys competed in various events against each other to see who could prevail.  It was a little competitive to say the least with the retired jockeys, captained by Tom Scu coming out on top in the end.  Gerry Supple was involved in this team along with Ken Rixon, Tom Malone and Tom O’Brien to name a few.  Challenges ranged from team relays to nasty eating, surfing simulators to singing contests.  Sky Racing TV cameras were there to capture the shenanigans and so I looks forward to seeing a few more videos having heard a lot about it! 

Betsy Williams

Betsy, is the young daughter of trainer Christian Williams and many of you may have heard about her ongoing battle with Leukaemia.  A charity rounder’s match was held on Sunday near Bridgend with plenty of activities going on raising money for the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group.  We were delighted to support it by giving a stable visit to auction.  Jack Tudor tells us they raised a lot of money and Betsy is currently undergoing six week course of intensive treatment and hopefully this may be all that is needed to make her better which is fantastic news.