Money

Ah well, isn't it nice to see those people at William Hill making so much money, £275m they are going to have made in 2010, have had to ask analysts if they don't mind revising their estimates upwards, most of the growth appears to have come from the fixed odds betting terminals in the shops - a bookies dream of course because  they can't lose, I just feel sorry for the poor punters being so systematically mugged, oh, and of course their offshore business is booming, it's racing that's been mugged there.  All seems a million miles away from the plight of the sport upon which they built their empire.... I closed my account with them many years ago when they refused to pay out on a legitimately placed wager with their rails representative at Ayr.. ho ho.
Off to Newcastle now, really looking forward to this horse running, let's hope all goes smoothly, back here Daasij, Northern Flame and Commercial Express all worked well on the grass, was delighted with all three, others cantered on the grass and those that worked yesterday had a well-earned day off hacking around the countryside.

the simple pleasure..

Heading home after 2nd lot

.. of marking out a grass gallop and then working our horses on it has eluded me since late November; it was therefore a delight this morning to be able to work on the grass again and Forcefield, Four Fiddlers, Almost Blue and Buffalo Ballet amongst others all did some fast work.  Most of the others did steadier stuff on the grass and Sunday's intended runners (Amulree, Skipping Chapel and Noir et Vert) all went to work on Lucinda's woodchip which is also back in action after an enforced sabbatical.  Yesterday afternoon Peter Buchanan had been in to jump a few of the youngsters so life really felt almost back to normal - long may it last!
We run Native Coll in the 3.25 at Newcastle tomorrow, Lucy rides, 10 run and the ground will be deep and gluey. He takes on an easy course and distance winner from last week but he seems in particularly good heart and I am hoping for a big run, he fell at Ayr last time but Lucy has schooled him since and he jumped well so here's hoping!

Playing Footsie leads her big sister "Minimo" back down the grass gallop

after the freeze..

Although half a dozen horses worked on the extremely wet all-weather yesterday I am conscious that most of them have done little else for the past few weeks, so they went for a hack in the forestry prior to some gentle cantering on the grass. It is important to keep them fresh and interested, it's been a tough time for the horses as well as the staff and I feel it would be easy to sicken them with too much strong work on the hill. 

Of course the extremely wet all-weather is now somewhat wetter follwing the best part of 50mm of rain in the past 48 hours, quite extraordinary and there are floods everywhere but at least it seems to be eradicating the last of the ice and snow - a fine, bright and breezy day now though.  Quite a busy Sunday morning doing a little schooling here and Lucy away schooling for a trainer in Northumberland, most of the horses had their usual Sunday hour on the walker.  We are set to ride out 20 horses tomorrow which I think is as busy as we've ever been, will probably find something wrong with one of them tonight so it might be back to 19 (or 18, 17....)
This week we plan to run Native Coll at Newcastle on Wednesday and we might run Forcefield in the replacement fixture at Kelso on Friday, then we are hoping the point-to-point season will kick off at Alnwick next Sunday where we hope to have 2 or 3 runners
Isla Pearl Fisher and Isla Patriot have both come out of their races at Musselburgh well, they will be ridden again tomorrow, some great pictures form John Grossick,

"Surf," Amy and Paddy

oh, sweetest of days...

The only tonic for a yard that has been battling with such atrocious conditions for eight weeks is a winner and we were cruelly robbed when Isla Pearl Fisher tipped up at the final fence last week at Ayr, but he made ammends in fine style today when running out the convincing winner of what had looked like a competitive handicap chase.  Although not really suited by the track and not looking the likely winner three out the complexion of the race changed quickly over the last two fences and he won by 5l with another 12l back to the third.  This was a good prize in the current climate and I was thrilled for the owner, Philippa Gammell, Paddy Aspell who was without a winner since he won on this horse in November, and most importantly for my team of dedicated staff who have put up with so much over the last two months.  Despite not having many runners at Musselburgh it has produced some good days for the yard and today ranks among the very best of them.

Next week we hope to be at Newcastle on Wednesday, Kelso have just announced a replacement fixture for Friday and hopefully the point-to-point season will kick off on Sunday 23rd.....

The Brothers

We have two runners at Musselburgh tomorrow, so long as the ground isn't too soft Isla Pearl Fisher will line up in the 3.20 for Mrs Gammell with Paddy Aspell on board; it's the feature race for a good prize and the Kilmany Cup (see below if you're bored...) - it looks very competitive but he goes there with every chance.  His little brother Isla Patriot then runs in the 3.50, 13 run and Paddy rides again, this is only his second appearance on the racecourse and it will be all about gaining some experience.

Isla Pearl Fisher enters the paddock at Kelso

Back here the thaw has gained momentum with the result that all the ice and snow on the gallop has turned to water with interesting consequences, the horses were on it again today, concentrating on sprinting on the bottom two furlongs, Lucinda put a good pic of her horses working on it on her website yesterday..
http://lucindarussell.com/64.htm , I'm going to have to let it dry out for a few days now though but hopefully we will be able to do some work on the grass tomorrow - might be quite exciting as most of the horsses won't have been on grass for eight weeks, hold on tight!  This evening Mrs A has her Ladies Supper Party to which I am not invited so it will be off to Nando's for a hot sauce competition and if I survive that a trip to the cinema beckons...

PS -  I won the Kilmany Cupas an owner in 1989 when it was run at Perth with a horse called Golden Fancy trained by my Father, the horse had been runner up on the Tuesday of the Perth Festival and won on the Thursday... how old does that make me feel...eek!  The same horse had earlier won at Musselburgh at 20-1 when he was my first ever runner as an owner, I think he has a bit to answer for.....

Ho ho ho

Another inch of snow overnight on top of frozen ground but thaw accelerating today so optimism all-round.  Still very slippy conditions so horses confined to all-weather which improved as the morning went on (rotovated 4 times today!) - they went fairly steady on it but most of them were up 3 times and they seem fit and well.

Big row brewing over the Horsemen's minimum prize money that they are trying to impose on the racecourses, tricky situation but I don't have enough alternative opportunities for our horses to be able to start boycotting fixtures, my priority will always be to do the best thing for the horses and the owners who sponsor their careers however much it irritates me that the racecourses and bookmakers appear to be living off the owners.

Unrelenting

Conditions just won't let up, an inch of wet slushy snow last night froze this morning to create dangerously slippy conditions, frantic salting required to allow the lorry down the drive to leave for Newcastle; back onto the tractor tonight after a hazardous journey home from the races - crashes everywhere, trunk routes closed because of black ice and not one active gritter spotted in a 360 mile round trip, welcome to the Socialist Republic of Scotland, or is "No Service please we're British...." Anyway, discard grumpy mode, Johnny's 13th birthday today and looking forward to celebration dinner this evening, and I was quite happy with Seeking Power's 4th, he jumped a bit sloppily to start with but improved as the race went on, being 18hh and over 600kg he is incredibly difficult to keep fit but he galloped to the line and as he hasn't had a really stiff piece of work since November this was a perfectly respectable effort and he should come on a lot for the run, hopefully I will be able to find something for him in a couple of weeks.  Kelso abandoned so on to Musselburgh on Friday where we hope to have one or two runners.  The thaw is on its way, it's proving agonisingly slow in arriving, better news from the Northumbrians re the first point-to-point, they are hoping the more open weather will allow the season to start on Sunday 23rs after all, fingers crossed!

Seeking Power