What A Week For Gweedore

We have always known what a special horse Gweedore is but this past week he has excelled. Last Wednesday he headed up to Musselburgh where an afternoon shower of rain brought the ground to good so he took up his engagement over 7f under promising claimer Ryan Sexton. He ran a stormer to finish second just beaten on the head nod which was really frustrating.

The following day he held a declaration at Haydock and as he ate up well and bounced out of his stable on Thursday morning we opted to run. This time the ground was soft and he was under professional Jason Hart. He ran another stormer beaten by a well handicapped Haggas horse, pulling nicely clear of the third.

He still held an entry at Ayr for the Sunday but on Thursday night I have to admit I did not think we would take it up. However on Friday morning he had ate up, lost very little weight and came bouncing out of his stable looking like a horse that was just loving the game. It was a 9.55 decision to stick him in and see how he was over the weekend. As he seemed in super order on Sunday morning we stuck him in the lorry and headed up to Ayr. This run to be over a mile on good ground with Jason back in the saddle. He flew home in great style posting a career best, showing how much he loves his racing and his job. He is now on the easy list for a week to rest and to allow the handicapper to get his weights back in order.

Gweedore has massively benefitted from having patient owners in Craig and all the rest of the shareholders at Lamont Racing. The time he was given at 2, 3 and 4 has allowed him to develop into a big strong horse who thrives off racing and is still improving at 5. He has now won 8 races and is without a doubt a very special horse to all his owners and everyone at the yard.

Very pleased with our two other runners at Ayr. Kitty Pi showed a fair bit of improvement to finish third in the mares maiden and looks like she could be a bit of fun when she heads handicapping. She is homebred by her owner Nicola so it would be extra special for her to see her progress in to a nice horse.

Elladora ran back up there on Monday under Billy Garritty and finished a good second in a fast time. I felt for her a bit as she done nothing wrong but was just beaten by a horse that had come down a lot in the weights. The 6.5 lengths back to third shows what a good run it was. She is declared at Carlisle tomorrow as we think she will get a few pounds from the handicapper on Tuesday for that effort.

I was also pleased with Artemis Flyer who made her racecourse debut at Musselburgh last Wednesday for Making Headway Racing. She was green but stayed on well through the line to finish in 6th. She will likely take up an engagement at Hamilton on Saturday. It looks a warm race but we want to get out and gain experience and get another run in towards a handicap mark.

Far From A Ruby also ran at Musselburgh over 9f, she jumped and travelled well under Sam James but just did not quite get home and picked up fourth place. She heads to Catterick today under Jason Hart, we hope the track will play to her strengths.

It has been a great week with our runners but its also been very frustrating. Both Spartakos and Slainte Mhath are in great order at home but we are looking for some rain to get them back out on the track. The forecast for the next 10 days looks incredibly dry but hopefully they will come on to their own in the backend and get plenty of days out at the races.

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