What A Weekend

There are plenty tough days at the office working in this sport so we will be forever grateful for weekends like the one we just enjoyed.

Gweedore kicked it off in fine style winning the Silver Arrow Handicap at Musselburgh live on ITV. With regular partner Jason Hart unavailable we recruited the services of the talented claimer Billy Loughnane who took off a handy 5lb. It didn’t go as smoothly as hoped with Gweedore and Billy parting company on the way to the post but the race itself proved more straight forwards with Gweedore dominating and running out a convincing winner. However, the handicapper has not missed him with a 6 lb rise for his efforts. Some of his owners from Lamont Racing made it to Musselburgh and they had a fantastic day in the sunshine.

Gweedore and Billy at the start, Photo by Claire Dowling.

On Sunday we headed south on the A1 to Southwell where Elladora and Far From a Ruby lined up in the last. Stable competition! Elladora made virtually all under a positive ride from Phil Dennis to claim victory but we were equally pleased with Ruby who took a leap forward from her last run with a close fourth under Billy Garritty. We had plenty owners in attendance and the champagne in the winners box was enjoyed by all!

On Monday we travelled down to Redcar with Slainte Mhath and we were thrilled to see the rain falling as she loves the mud. After running a little keen on her previous start I was thrilled to see her relax in her race and she finished strongly to win well. Lots of owners in attendance again which makes it all the more special!

On Tuesday Rockley Point ran a blinder to be beaten a short head at Wolverhampton. It was painfully close but it means so much to myself and the team for our veteran to be running so well and full of enthusiasm.

Rockley Point and Nellie French have been warriors for us over the winter and the ARC Million Pound Bonus initiative has been a great incentive for everyone. I am very proud that they finished 17th and 19th in The All Weather Horse Of The Year Competition. It is a testament to everyone on the yard keeping them fit, healthy and happy throughout the winter to consistently run well and score points towards the competition. Hopefully they do something similar next year!

Nellie French and Rockley Point at the end of a great winter

Everyone on the yard pulled extra weight last week with the runners keeping us extra busy, its just amazing to see everyone pull together. We will have covered around 2000 miles in a week when we drive back in to the yard tomorrow night.

It is a massive credit to everyone on the yard when things go well. We also rely heavily on our fantastic farrier Elliot, our wonderful vet Sarah, Tony and Jackie for keeping us supplied with haylage and the team at Harbro for keeping us stocked with feed and bedding. Also none of this would even happen without all of our amazing owners. Truely a team effort!!!

After keeping us waiting an extra couple of weeks Jewellery foaled on Saturday night when we came home from Musselburgh and produced a cracking filly foal by Kingston Hill who has been christened Zara. Jewellery is a very proud mum.

Tomorrow we head to Newcastle with new recruit Thaki who has only been in the yard a week so it will likely be a learning curve but he arrived from Jessica Macey’s yard looking fresh, fit and well. Hopefully a good starting point for him for the yard.

It looks like we will be covering fewer miles next week. We take Cooldine Bog to our local point to point on Sunday then on Monday we have entries at both Redcar and Kelso!

Turf Season

Doubling Up