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

In the bleak mid-winter...

...trainer can get a little tetchy as plans are continually changing and every way we move we seem to be frustrated by the weather one way or another, it's a challenge keeping the 17 horses fit, healthy and sound with the goalposts continually shifting. Unlike many other yards our horses have missed no work and this morning was a joy as for the first time for what seems like months (but is only actually 10 days or so) we were able to gallop on grass again which they all seemed to enjoy.

After many abandonments we are eventually going to be racing again tomorrow when Art Investor lines up in the 4pm at Ayr, 11 run, Fearghal Davies rides and the ground will be very soft as the forecast is stormy. I had always presumed that this horse wanted good ground but he hasn't been showing much and we feel its worth a try on soft given the limited opportunites around at the moment.

I was hoping to have had a few more runners but the ground is going to be very testing and I just want to avoid that with most of them, we hope to have a couple of runners at Newcastle on Wednesday next week where conditions seem a bit better.

Please apologise for the poor quality of the two videos below but I just wanted to see whether I could master the technology.... here is 2nd lot this morning quickening up on the grass, Northern Dusk is the one at the front, he is ready to run in a bumper but has been frustrated by the weather...

and here is Skipping Chapel making a bit of a din coming up the all-weather, that's why he is avoiding the heavy ground at Ayr tomorrow

It will be interesting to see if I have mastered the technology, if so the potential is limitless!

N

I quite often think I am blessed with a near perfect life being able to spend the majority of my time indulging my passion for training horses; the last few weeks have put that to the test somewhat. Firstly having set myself a target of 10 winners for the season I find that Xmas has been and gone and we have been nowhere near hitting the scoresheet, secondly with several horses ready to run we now find the country frost bound with the prospect of things remaining the same for the next ten days and actually getting colder next week. It will be a real challenge now especially with last season's main earner, Native Coll, being out of action having only notched a couple of thirds, however we have 17 horses in work at present, much the busiest we have ever been and although two of them are only here temporarily I will be very disappointed if the other 15 can't produce a good few wins between now and the end of April.

I was laid low with the lurgy and couldn't get to Newcastle to watch Whispering Moor run on the Saturday before Xmas but despite me having him in the wrong race he still put up a lacklustre effort, I had been concerned that he wasn't quite in the same form as he had been a few weeks earlier. Skipping Chapel having pulled up at Sedgefield earlier in the month came back coughing and as he goes out in the field every day with WM I have to assume that something is bugging the latter - they have both been treated accordingly and are being freshened up ready to run again as soon as the weather relents.

Having so many horses all fired up with nowhere to go adds an extra level of challenge to the job, particularly with the weather limiting the variety of work we can give them, one doesn't just want to gallop them into the ground, pounding up the all-weather every day, we need to try to have them very fit but a little bit fresh and its a difficult balance to strike especially when one's recent runners have given so little indication as to exactly where we are with them. So we are just keeping our heads down and doing the best we can, the amount of work and rising at six every morning when the rest of the world appears to be on holiday can appear a little futile when the racing isn't actually happening but I am incredibly impressed by the determination of my staff who have all appeared on time at 7 every morning despite often only going to bed about 90 minutes earlier! I am amazed how they do it but they can be a little wooden-headed as a result vexing the (slightly) grumpy trainer somewhat.

I whitter on too much; in summary we have 4 horses ready to run at Ayr this week that are unlikely to get a run due to the weather, they will divert to Musselburgh and Kelso next week but they also looks dodgy, thereafter who knows but I guarantee that no yard in the country will be trying harder to have them spot on when they get their chance...

Sorry, one more thing, another dilemma I have is that I am not sure that these emails should really go on my public blog, in many ways they are a personal catharcism that hopefully gives a frank and ocassionally amusing insight into the ups and downs of training racehorses. I'm not convinced that I want any old Joe to be able to go in and read them and I don't want to feel overly self-conscious when I write them, they mustn't turn into a marketing exercise or that will completely switch off the loyal few who actually read them, hmm, I'll probably stick it on the blog anyway and hope for the best.....

Happy New Year!

N