If ever...

I could write a book about a horse it would be about the giant Seeking Power (pictured) but I hope not too many chapters will read like yesterday. It's just as well I'm not a betting man because if I was I would have got seriously stuck into Seeking Power at the Cumberland Farmers yesterday. Sent off the 5-2 joint favourite of 16 runners he had everything in his favour, everything finally appeared to have fallen into place, however not in my wildest dreams (nightmares?) could I have imagined what unfolded. He was a little bit keen running into the first fence, put in a very big jump and pitched on landing, his head hit the ground and in the process he managed to pull his bridle off, pragmatically Lucy would have been better to have fallen off however she sat tight, they lost little momentum and as they galloped towards the 2nd fence Lucy found herself still holding the reins but with the bridle flapping between the horses knees; unrestrained he accelerated past the rest of the field and the aghast crowd, he ran off the course and headed at full speed towards a wood, only stopping at the very last minute to hurl Lucy at full velocity into the barbed wire fence, leaving her strung up upside-down like a rag-doll in the rows of barb, he cantered off into the distance. Fortunately this happened close to the crowd and more importantly the paramedics who were on-hand very quickly, after an interminable few minutes they managed to extract her from the fence and miraculously she walked into the ambulance. Apart from torn colours and shredded breeches she got away with about 20 cuts and punctures to

her legs none of which are serious (some pictured - with apologies!). It was a truly heart-stopping 30 seconds though, really lucky that no serious injury resulted and if Mr & Mrs A decide to give up racing horses it won't be because we don't like getting up in the morning!

Luckily the day had started on a much better note when Contendo (below) finished a good 2nd in the Intermediate race to a highly regarded horse from Yorkshire, he had several multiple winners behind him so showed that his maiden win was no fluke.

We were all set to head off again today when I noticed that our intended runner Amulree had some gunge coming out of her nose so I had no option other than to withdraw her, most frustrating but better to have found out now than after the race; hopefully I will be able to sort her out and she can go to Kelso on Friday 20th. All being well we will head South tomorrow for a 48 hour busman's holiday at the Cheltenham Festival; the Irish can't see Cousin Vinny being beaten in the opener on Tuesday, they are probably right but the odds will be skinny and I prefer 25-1 each way about Copper Bleu. In the Champion Hurdle there will be another hot favourite but one could do worse than another good priced outsider in the mare, Whiteoak. On Wednesday Diamond Harry looks very decent whilst later in the week last year's Gold Cup winner Denman looks outstanding value at 6-1. If a horse called Madison du Berlais hadn't turned up at Kempton last month Denman would be odds on favourite.... We have a new arrival here in the form of this smart colt foal by top class Derby winner Generous, our 8th foal out of Harrietfield..... hope springs eternal..... We have entries at Sedgefield on Tuesday, Hexham on Thursday and the Duke of Buccleuch's point-to-point on Saturday - I think I'll recover from yesterday though prior to firming up plans.

the next best thing...

... to winning on Saturday was to come second and we were all delighted when Smart Cavalier put up a bold effort to finish 2nd of 10 under brother Jamie at Kelso; considering the race came only 6 days after his seasonal debut and the ground was too soft it was a huge run. He was tired afterwards (the horse) so will need a week or two but with luck we should have some fun with him through the spring.

This week we have entries at Ayr on Friday & Saturday, the Cumberland point-to-point on Saturday and Kelso on Sunday, it is likely that we will be at the latter two but will be watching the weather closely...

N

phew...

.. after longer than I care to remember we were back with a winner yesterday when Contendo won the 11 runner Maiden race at Lanark, idling in front he prevailed by 3/4 of a length from the hot favourite confirming the promise shown a few weeks ago. He was named "Contendo" (which means "to strive/struggle/hasten" in Latin - his sire is Classic Cliche) by daughter Lucy when she was studying Latin at school a few years ago and whilst I'm not sure he has always lived up to his name it was thoroughly appropriate that she was on board for his first victory, hopefully he can progress from here now the penny has finally dropped. (2nd left below - he looks bored...)

Otherwise it was a mixed sort of day, Almost Blue put up a very promising effort in the opener, catching the eye with late progress to finish a close-up 5th of 13. Foodbroker Founder also put up a decent effort (and his first clear round over fences) to finish a close 5th in a high class Ladies Open and will be seen to much better effect when the ground dries up further. Smart Cavalier led them a merry dance in the Men's Open before fitness told 3 out, he will come on for the run and may make a quick reappearance at Kelso on Saturday. Torche unfortunately burst a blood vessel in the final race on the card, this is not the easiest thing to remedy but I will do my best.
We are unlikely to have any other runners this week unless it rains whereby we may be represented at the Tynedale point-to-point at Corbridge in Northumberland....

N

yo ho ho...

...it's off to Ayr we go today where Whispering Moor runs for the Stanistreets in the 2.10, Fearghal Davies rides, 12 run and the ground will be soft and sticky. It's not a perfect race for him in that it is back over hurdles and it's 2m4f rather than 3m but I felt it was the best race on the card for him and I was hesitant about running him over 3 miles as he might just be a little stuffy after the fortnight's freeze up; he's had plenty of work this week though and I hope he will run a decent race to give the stable (and owner!) a boost after such a frustrating winter.

We also hope to have a handful of runners at the Dumfriesshire point-to-point on Sunday which has been relocated to Lanark this year, the horses all seem in good order and may have benefitted from an enforced relaxation in their schedule due to the weather; the team here did a marvellous job whilst we were enjoying -25c in the Alps, about half a metre of snow fell producing fantastic conditions but golly it was cold......

N

PS the aptly named Northern Dusk is in great form after a short lay-off and will hopefully make his racecourse debut soon. He's a lovely horse with a good pedigree, we've been very patient with him and he is showing plenty of ability, the sort of horse to keep a trainer awake at night!

all fired up....

for the first time this season the weather has started to beat us and it is only possible to canter steadily on the "all-weather" so last night we organised ourselves for an early morning sortie to the beach at St Andrews for a serious workout... however it started snowing as I fed the horses just after 6 and by 7.30 things were clearly a "no-go"

tempted as I was to give it a try I opted for more of the slow steady work at home, yet another wintry morning....

Who knows what is going to happen on the racing front but we have Smart Cavalier entered at Musselburgh on Wednesday, Whispering Moor at Kelso on Thursday and the point-to-pointers at Alnwick on Sunday 15th. We are heading to the Alps tomorrow for 5 days skiing which seems quite a sensible thing to do in the circumstances though the forecast tells me to expect -22c tomorrow night.. brrrrrrr.

turning the corner?

the point-to-point season kicked off yesterday with good competitive racing at Kelso in remarkably benign conditions. Although we didn't come home with much I was delighted with our three runners; Torche ran a very solid race for brother Jamie in a high class Mens Open race, he was lying in 4th (of about 16) and closing on the leaders when J felt him take a couple of false strides so quickly pulled him up, he seems fine though and this was a most encouraging effort. Contendo ran in the "Restricted" race with Lucy on board, there were about 14 runners and he was moving up nicely through the field alongside the eventual winner (well done Cornelius!) when he was brought down 6 out, Lucy took a bit of a kicking but was most encouraged by the way the horse jumped and travelled. She also rode Seeking Power in the Maiden and finished 4th of 16, not beaten far this was most encouraging for his first race for 2 years. Most importantly for me though, the horses proved themselves fit and healthy and I needed what I was seeing at home confirmed on the track.







The grannies appeared to have found something to smile about.....

....not so sure about the anxious parents briefing the jockey












it may only be 4th in a maiden point-to-point but it was a relief to be back in the winner's enclosure with our old friend Seeking Power.....

This week we may be in action at Carlisle on Wednesday though I suspect the weather will play havoc across the country

Two Fat Ladies....

.... make a crowded house. Although we escaped the worst of the horrendous weather this weekend the forecast looks dire so I though it would be kind to bring the two broodmares in from grass as they are nearly due and it is time they had their rugs off; having not seen them without a rug for several months I am always rather surprised by how large they are and this year was no exception - Harrietfield on the left is due to Generous in about 4 weeks and Berkeley Run to Desert Prince, both mares have already produced winners so fingers crossed.

The only barn I had to put them in was currently occupied by brother Jamie's temporary residents so we hastily assembled two "stables" for them, they needed to come off straw as they are due to run soon, I think they appear a little bemused by their new lodgings.

Despite the bitterly cold wind and sodden ground we took the opportunity to pop two of our own point-to-pointers over the schooling fences, Commercial Express (last seen at Perth in the summer) leads the "late-maturing" home bred Seeking Power (last seen in Co Meath two years ago) - they are likely to be among our next runners at the West Percy point-to-point a week today (Sunday 25th), we won't have any runners on the track this week.....

N