Dan Does it Again!

      Hammer Dan Winner at Stratford

The past week has been one with a touch of international flavour, with me on a family holiday in the Algarve and having a runner in France.  With the kids having broken up from school for the summer, Leanne and I and the children are having a lovely few days in Portugal.  It has been very hot and there have been plenty of Mozzies liking us all, but it has been a nice few days break, although Jack cannot wait to get home and go racing!

The team at home do a good job of running things while I am away and keep me updated and I can watch a lot of what is going on from my phone where I can access the cameras from all across the yard and on the gallops! 

It was a good week for us to go away with not much jumps racing last week and most of our runners came on the flat and abroad!  However, it was good to end the week as it started, with a winner!  It was fantastic to get another win from Hammer Dan at Stratford over hurdles on Sunday, following his win at Newton Abbot on his previous start.  Jack gave him a lovely waiting ride and produced him to lead at the last.  He idled when he hit the front but was always doing enough.  The trip on this track was probably sharp enough but he did it nicely and there should be more to come.

Rebel Angel did not get the best ride at Chepstow and although disappointing I think you can put a line though this and she is definitely better than what she showed here.  She has entries back at Chepstow and Epsom during this week and she is likely to be out again quickly.

On Saturday, Oceanline ran another solid race to be fifth in a hot looking contest at Ascot.  Hollie Doyle gave him a nice ride, following a strong pace and at one point he looked like he may get swallowed up by the pack but he kept galloping all the way to the line and finished fifth, not beaten that far.  The race was won by a three year old who looks smart and it is very hard for the older horses to give them that much weight for age allowance at this time of year.  If we can, it is nice to avoid the three years olds but sometimes it is just not possible!  This race was over 1m6f which was slightly shorter than ideal for Oceanline but it was a good run.  We have our eye on the 2m4f staying handicap at Glorious Goodwood which could suit him down to the ground.

I also had my first ever runner at Dieppe on Saturday, with Heure De Gloire travelling over to France and running with great credit in a mares hurdle to be third.  She won on her racing debut in France before we ever had her and it has always been on my mind to take her back there and I am glad we did.  The ground can never be soft enough for her and I thought she would enjoy the French style of racing.  She had a bit to find with the principles in the race on ratings but until she gets a handicap mark over there we just have to go for races she is eligibler.  She travelled and jumped well, then was a little outpaced but stayed on in the closing stages under a good ride from jockey Nathan Howie. She picked up 3,400 Euros in the process, which will cover her trip and more.  She was back eating her breakfast in her own stable by Sunday morning and seems to have really enjoyed the whole experience, which is good as she is likely to be heading out there again soon!

This Week

Last week we started the week with a winner and let’s hope we can again this time around although with Newton Abbot abandoned on Monday we will have to wait to Tuesday for that!  We were due to have two runners at Newton Abbot but that was called off mid-morning following heavy rain which made the course waterlogged and therefore un-raceable.  The track has not had a lot of luck with the weather this summer and has lost several fixtures. 

On Tuesday it will be another first for me with my first ever runner at Beverley.  Coltor runs in the staying handicap over two miles and Jason Hart has his first ride for me as well.  While a long way to go it looks an excellent opportunity for our six year old who is very talented on his day.  He has some good form in the book already on the flat and over hurdles and made a pleasing enough stable debut over hurdles at Worcester.  He has come on for that run and although he has top weight in this contest, he should run well.

We have several entries at Uttoxeter on Wednesday and Worcester on Thursday over jumps while Rebel Angel is entered on the flat and Myristica has a flat entry at Newbury on Friday.  Looking ahead to the weekend it is the big summer jumps races at Market Rasen on Saturday and Manuelito and Nibras Gold have entries in the feature hurdle race while Steppenwolf could line up in the Summer Plate chase.  This hurdle race has been Manuelito’s target since winning at Ffos Las while Nibras Gold has been in good form over Fences this summer and can return to hurdling from a lower mark.  Steppenwolf was impressive on stable debut and was not suited by the track or ground at Bangor last time.  There is also racing a bit closer to home at Newton Abbot on Sunday where Final Entry could make his hurdling debut so keeping checking the Daily News on the website for all the latest information.

End of Holidays

Time flies when you are having fun and that has certainly been the case this summer!  It does not seem like five minutes ago that we were turning horses out to grass and now it is time for the majority of them to be coming in!  It is a gradual process over the coming week that horses start to come in from the fields and into stables.  Things will be quite noisy initially as they shout for their friends but they will go on the horse walker, have some front shoes on and starting being ridden around the roads. 

Weather Watch

While June was dry with only 18mm of rain falling and similar to June 2023, July now seems to be following last year’s pattern and is quite wet!  We have had over 50mm of rain at Pond House in just over a week with another wet Monday to see in the new week as well!  Last July, we actually had 127mm of rain so we have a bit to go to catch that and hopefully we won’t!  Newton Abbot’s ground in soft, heavy in places for today while Uttoxeter is also fairly soft up there as well and so it is affecting some of the horses running plans, those that refer conditions a bit quicker anyway! Up until the end of June we had recorded 680mm of rain for the year so far, more than any other year to this point since we started recording it over 20 years ago.  While some rain is welcome to help produce naturally good ground for the horses, some nice warm sunshine is always good to!

John Hunt

I could not write this week without mentioning the horrific events that happened to one of racing’s own, John Hunt last week.  The majority of you will know that sadly John’s wife Carol and two of his daughter’s, Louise and Hannah were brutally murdered in their own home.  I cannot imagine how he and his other daughter Amy are feeling right now but my thoughts and prayers of with them and the rest of their family.  John has been to Pond House a couple of times and I can only echo what many have said about what a nice man and wonderful family man he is and how good at his job of commentating on racing and the other sports he does.   Words are not enough but racing is a great community and all our love and support is with them.