Good To Be Back!

As a Chelsea fan I was looking forward to watching them perform against Bayern Munich in the Champion’s League Final.  I understand that it was a thrilling match, decided in the most dramatic of ways – with a penalty shootout.  Despite watching the majority of the game, the late night the evening before had caught up with me and I somehow managed to fall asleep prior to the penalties!  I was gutted to have missed it, but pleased that Chelsea won – it is a great achievement to land the FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.

While I am just arriving back from my summer holidays, the unsettled and wet weather we have been experiencing means that many of the horses are only just going out on theirs, leaving us with a summer jumping team numbering about 40.  There is a nice covering of grass in the paddocks and the horses will enjoy a nice pick of grass over the coming weeks before embarking on another campaign this autumn.

Turning horses out to grass for their holidays is always a worrying time and I would like to extend my thoughts and sincerest condolences to Lucinda Russell, Peter Scudamore, Sandy Seymour and the team at Arlary House at the loss of their Cheltenham Festival winner Brindisi Breeze while on his summer holidays in the paddocks.  I can quite easily sympathise with them – the loss of our own Great Endeavour only last month while holidaying at Timmy Murphy’s was a huge blow and it is a real shame for the racing industry to lose two bright young talents like these.

Fortunately the sport still has it’s share of superstars and you couldn’t help but be in awe of the performance produced by Frankel in winning the Lockinge at Newbury on Saturday.  Sir Henry Cecil’s four year old looked better than ever when brushing aside class act Excelebration by an easy five lengths and with the prospect of more to come with that outing under his belt, he could post some truly stunning performances this summer.  I for one cannot wait to see where he turns up for the remainder of the season and with the prospect of him racing over a mile and a quarter later this term, we could be treated to some amazing action.

We enjoyed a winner of our own at the weekend when Beattie Green (pictured left) won at Stratford on Sunday under Conor O’Farrell.   I was particularly pleased for the patient owners - it has taken a little while to find the key to her, but she certainly seemed to enjoy the better ground and will be kept on the go during the summer and could well be up to winning again in the coming months.

We will have three runners at Towcester on Tuesday, Barton Stacey, Bathwick Man (ridden by Tom Scudamore) and Ladyvie (who will be reunited with winning jockey Conor O’Farrell), while we also have entries later in the week at Worcester, Sedgefield and Wetherby.  With a warm, dry and sunny week forecast and the ground drying out surprisingly quickly, we will see what the going is like before deciding on running plans.  As always, you can keep up to date with the latest news and events by checking Chester’s Daily Chat.