- Tuesday, 24 July 2012 14:00
- Written by David Pipe
It was good to see Raslan return to form and he will now be aimed at the valuable handicap hurdle at his beloved Newton Abbot that he won in 2009 and 2010 at the beginning of September. While he has won on soft ground, I am convinced that he needs quicker ground to show his best and will be hoping that the improvement in the weather will provide his preferred going at the Devon track.
On Friday Martial Law (pictured right) had run a cracker to narrowly be denied in a flat staying handicap at Ascot under young Willy Twiston-Davies. The ironic thing is (and it 
once again highlights the disparities between prize money between flat and jumps, and Britain and overseas countries) he earned more for finishing second on the flat (£2143.60), than he did for winning a maiden hurdle at Worcester last month (£2111.84)! Moreover he picked up over £14,000 for winning a three year old flat contest at Chantilly in 2009, and more than £12,000 for winning a run-of-the-mill handicap in Australia in May of last year...and people still question why there are rumblings of discontent!
Back to business around the yard and I am saddened to report the retirement of I’m So Lucky who ran his last race at Aintree in April. He was certainly one of my personal favourites and while I am sorry that his career has drawn to a close, I am happy to say that he retired safe, sound and happy and is currently with his owner Roger Brookhouse. A winner of nine of his starts on the flat, over hurdles and fences, he produced his best performance for me when winning the Grade Two Celebration Chase on the closing day of the season at Sandown in 2010, beating multiple Grade One winning chaser Twist Magic into third. He still showed that he was capable of smart form last season, most notably when running a decent third behind crack novice Sprinter Sacre in a Grade Two chase at Newbury and I am sure you will all join me in wishing him a long and happy retirement.
For those of you that will be looking to have a crack at the Racing Post’s 10 To Follow for the coming jumps season, I would advise a note of caution about our 2012 Cheltenham Festival winner Salut Flo. Our exciting ex-French chaser sustained a nasty cut to his leg during exercise at Punchestown ahead of an intended engagement at the track at the end of April and was therefore unable to run. Unfortunately when he returned to Richard Kent he then had a bout of colic which required surgery – he is well on the road to recovery now, but he has been through a lot and plans for when he will return to the track are on hold at present. Owner Allan Stennett had shown tremendous patience with him prior to his Festival success and hopefully his patience will once again be rewarded – he is far too good a horse to risk bringing back too quickly and we will continue to monitor his progress before making any firm plans for him.
Although there are fewer jumps meetings during the summer months and a number of the horses are still to come back from their summer grass at their owners, work around the yard continues unabated and we are nearly finished painting the stable blocks. As you can see from the pictures of Liz and Sam painting the ceilings below, everyone mucks in.
Looking at the week ahead we will have one runner, Shallow Bay in the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at Bangor on Tuesday. He will be ridden by stable conditional Tom Bellamy who will claim a useful 8lbs off his back. We also have entries at Worcester on Wednesday, Uttoxeter on Thursday and Southwell on Friday, although the weekend looks like a quiet one, with no jump racing taking place in this country on Saturday. With regard to runners, we will have to keep an eye on the skies - once again the going is on the change with this recent beautiful weather and it is starting to resemble the sort of jumping ground you would expect at this time of year.
