Happy days....

Mrs A seemed very pleased to make off with her loot after her horse Foodbroker Founder won the Ladies Open under daughter Lucy at the Fife point-to-point on Saturday. It has taken us a little bit of time to work out this quirky little horse and he came from well off the pace to win cleverly; having lain for dead at the last fence in the same race last year it was a huge relief that he finally came good and particularly pleasing that he did so at our local track. This horse that was engaged in the 2003 Derby has a little bit of history, trained by David Elsworth he won on the flat, was beaten a short head at Royal Ascot, became Desert Orchid's travelling companion and soul-mate, won a couple over hurdles and the last jockey to sit on him prior to Lucy was AP McCoy.... hopefully he can progress from here on the pointing circuit but we also fancy giving him a couple of spins on the flat through the summer.



Earlier in the afternoon Almost Blue was a comfortable winner in the Members Race, brother Jamie recording his 7th (a record surely?) win in the race in a match against his niece Lucy riding for the Normile stable.


It was a good afternoon's racing in glorious sunshine and much needed having withdrawn our horses at Perth due to the ground being a little bit quick. We did manage to give a couple of promising youngsters a racecourse gallop on Friday evening but the ground frustrations continue this week with Amulree and Fearless Footsteps having to bypass their intended engagements at Kelso this evening. I am sure it will rain sometime but probably not until I have finally thrown in the towel and turned the horses out for a summer break.



Last Saturday represented the formal end of the 2008/9 National Hunt Season. Reflecting on our stats I see that we had 4 winners & 6 seconds from 51 runners. All the winners came in the pointing field and thank goodness for that as we had very little luck on the track with several horses going wrong and some of them not being quite right in the middle of the winter. Whilst it is undeniably easier to win in point-to-points with an ordinary sort of horse, it is still very competitive and you have to be fit, healthy and lucky. The problem on the track is that until you get into handicaps you are generally competing against some very expensive horses and, with us, our handicappers either went wrong or just weren't up for it.



The great thing about racing is one is always looking forward and we have some very nice young horses to look forward to next season and a few old favourites coming back from injury so we will hopefully make a bit more of an impact on the track this time round.



I say "next" season but it has of course already started and we intend to be in action on Sunday at the Lauderdale point-to-point, as mentioned we have bypassed Kelso today but we have other options at Hexham on Saturday evening and Witton Castle (wherever that is) on Bank Holiday Monday - it would be highly satisfactory if we could start off where we finished, with winners!

N

back into action...

...it will be 3 weeks since we had a runner when we finally swing back into action this weekend, frustrating when we have 7 horses primed and ready to go but it has been astonishingly dry and as a result the ground has been very firm. All being well the watering will have done its job though this weekend at Corbridge; Almost Blue and Foodbroker Founder will hopefully line up on Sunday afternoon, both are in great form and put up career best efforts last time out so fingers crossed, thereafter we have 3 nice horses to run at the Perth Festival next week where I am sure there will be nice ground.

With an absence of racing opportunities I took the opportunity to nip over to my beloved Murren for a couple of days skiing in the week running up to Easter; the advantages of being fairly stout came into play when I collided with an unfortunate Mancunian at full speed on part of the famous "Inferno" run, whilst we both had the wipeout of a lifetime and I am still nursing a sore shoulder he was rather more immediately inconvenienced by regurgitating on impact the spinach soup he had just had for lunch which upset him somewhat, fortunately my "bratwurst mit katoffelsalat" was rather more solid and remained in situ.

We were in need of a diversion with Northern Dusk having to be euthanased during Aintree week. Apart from the pain of losing a lovely horse that had become a real friend it is a major strategic blow to a small yard like ours.

In the summer of 07 a very good friend had indicated that she would like a share in a good long term National Hunt prospect and with a decent budget in hand we headed off to Doncaster Sales, we drew a blank and then headed to the Newmarket Horses in Training Sales where we again drew a blank. By this time we had the irrascible Irish bloodstock agent, Gerry Griffin, in tow and he set about finding us something privately in Ireland. I was laid up with my broken hip when he called having found this good prospect down in Co Wexford, unable to travel we had to take his word for it and in early December he arrived at Kinneston. He wasn't the most impressive horse when I first saw him and having only just been backed he had a few behavioural issues as well and he was clearly going to need a bit of time.

We gave him just that and over the next fifteen months he gradually learnt his job, stopped galloping like a kangaroo and overcame his phobia of being near other horses. What was really exciting about him though was his acceleration, the first time we asked him to quicken I was left with my mouth hanging open and after that every time we gave him a little squeeze to see what would happen the power that he showed would literally make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; he kept me awake at night. As well as that he grew into himself, developing a self-belief that translated itself into his whole demeanour - he knew he was good.

After one or two false starts we eventually arrived at the racecourse on Friday 20th March this year and trainer was definitely nervous, I didn't expect him to win as I knew there was plenty still to work on, he would be green and there would be limitless improvement to come. He ran a brilliant race but faded slightly in the closing stages and as soon as he eased up I could see there was a problem. The rest, as they say, is history, but he was well looked after in Hospital and seemed content when I visited him. Having initially diagnosed a fractured pastern further investigation revealed multiple fractures in his knee, at the end of the day his legs weren't strong enough for his heart and I am afraid to say that to succeed as a good racehorse they need to be. It is disappointing for me and a big blow for the owners but most of all I feel for all those in the yard here that looked after him so well and turned him from the slightly plain nervous animal that came off the lorry from Ireland into a good-looking racehorse with real presence and talent.

Sometime around this time last year Kit decided he would like to emulate his elder sister and do a bit of race-riding. It wasn't exactly the news Mrs A and I wanted to hear but we managed to send Lucy out on a winner first time (just) so we set about finding him a decent horse. By August we hoped we had the right one in the form of Commercial Express, a reasonably experienced steeplechaser that had normally been ridden by Kit's favourite jockey, Timmy Murphy. We almost had it ready to run in January when it started to suffer a series of minor setbacks which basically kept it off work for a month; despite the interruptions we thought we had it ready so took it to the Lanark point-to-point on Saturday.

After all the waiting... the anxious connections...

on board at last...

Sent off at an unfancied 6-1, Kit's instructions were to "ride him like Timmy" ie wait out the back and come with a late run. He carried out the instructions to perfection (almost) in that he waited, waited, waited and came with a tearing run round the home bend, over the last two and just failed by a head to nail the even-money favourite. One bookmaker in particular was most relieved (having given the connections 10-1) and a head seemed so desperately close to pulling it off after a year of plotting but it was a wonderful first run, problem is I think he wants to have another go.....

2nd was going to be the theme of the weekend as we headed to Alnwick on Sunday where brother Jamie on Almost Blue was just pipped by top amateur Tom Greenall on an odds-on favourite, going down by a neck in a driving finish and then Lucy on Foodbroker Founder was beaten into 2nd by another southern raider in the Ladies Open.

Considering "Foodie" failed to complete last season this was good progress but that's five 2nds this month from 12 runners..... talk about hitting the crossbar!

I am glad the horses ran well over the weekend because I started Saturday morning in very poor shape having finished up late on Friday evening at the Large Animal Hospital near Edinburgh after our promising youngster Northern Dusk injured himself seriously on the run-in in the last race at Kelso. This horse has been the apple of my eye through what has been a long and sometimes difficult winter, seeing him quicken up on the gallops never failed to set my heart racing and I was pretty certain I might finally have found a decent horse to take us somewhere. Everything he did on the day confirmed my hopes, he looked really striking, had poise, presence and was completely relaxed. He was an utter professional during the race and was just coming to mount his challenge on the run-in when his stride faltered slightly and he appeared to be running on empty, he still finished 6th but pulled up very lame and was taken off the course by horse ambulance prior to being transferred to the LAH where x-rays diagnosed a fractured pastern. A full recovery is possible but not certain and it was a bitter blow that having been so patient he should be injured on his racecourse debut, there was heaps of improvement to come and I just hope we can get him back to fulfil his potential for his loyal owners. Earlier in the afternoon Miss Colima ran a poor race in the staying handicap hurdle, she was a bit stiff afterwards and may not have liked the ground, I will turn every stone to make sure there is no underlying problem. On Thursday at Ayr Whispering Moor put up a lacklustre effort despite looking well, he just doesn't seem to want to get competitive.

A real roller-coaster of a weekend and it doesn't seem to stop as we run Smart Cavalier in the 5pm at Sedgefield tomorrow with brother Jamie on top, the ground will be fast and 14 run, if he can repeat his good 2nd at Kelso last time out he should go close.

I think I'll be lying in a dark room somewhere...

Whispering Moor...

....waits to go onto the lorry prior to heading off to Ayr this morning

This week...

After what has seemed like an interminably long winter the sudden arrival of spring is most welcome in many respects, it is a joy to go out in the mornings, the farm is busy and there is a tremendous lustre in the horses' coats. It does mean that conditions on the tracks are drying up very fast and we hope to have a busy weekend, starting tomorrow at Ayr when Whispering Moor is going to run in the 2.20, only 6 run, James Halliday rides, the ground will be soft still and we are just hoping that he shows us some enthusiasm. On Friday we head to Kelso where the ground will be good, we hope to run Miss Colima in the 3.25 with Fearghal Davies on board and Northern Dusk in the 5.40 with Peter Buchanan. Saturday sees us at the Lanark point-point where we hope our elder son Kit will have his first ride on board Commercial Express, Lucy should be in action on Foodbroker Founder and possibly Contendo whilst Jamie looks like waiting till Sunday at Alnwick where Almost Blue should have a good chance.

I am pleased to report that last weekend was much less eventful than the previous one with Almost Blue finishing a good 3rd of 14 in the Restricted race and Seeking Power 3rd of 14 in the maiden, sent of favourite he was only beaten 3l by the winner and would have gone very close had he not blundered badly at the 4th last. After a winter when we really struggled to get into the money it has been heartening that over the last month 6 of our 11 runners have been placed, including a winner and two 2nds - long may it continue!

N

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