A Busy Week

06/11/21

Sunday was a hard day as we suffered the loss of a beautiful horse, Glenduff. The loss was felt the most by Kira, who had looked after him for the last two seasons. He was a gent of a horse and not a bad bone in his body.

 

Universal Folly tried to lift spirits when he won the following race. He jumped and travelled nicely throughout the race and won by a comfortable 4 lengths.

On Tuesday we welcomed the MS Borders Racing Club for a long overdue stable visit. It was great to see everyone again as well as meeting some new faces. There was lots of excitement as they met their new horse, The Best Way, for the first time, as well as seeing their other horses, Bullion Boss and Desert Sapphire. They then headed to The Sun Inn in a nearby village for a lovely lunch and social catch up. We are looking forward to another (hopefully successful) season training for them again.

Yesterday we had one runner at Hexham, Crystal Glory. He won both Irish point-to-points for Donnchadh Doyle last Autumn and was recommended to us. Now owned by Charlie & Cathal Doocey, he continued his so far successful career with another win. We are delighted for his owners who have been very patient with their horses and it’s fantastic for them to have an exciting prospect for the future.

There are 5 runners declared for Kelso on Saturday. Houston Texas has his first start for us in the 12:25, a 2m6f Novice Hurdle. He won a point-to-point in Ireland and finished second twice last year before heading over to the UK. His form so far has been disappointing so we will know more about him after tomorrow.

 

Takingrisks makes his seasonal reappearance in the 1:35 3m2f Handicap Hurdle. Lyall Hodgins, who actually looks after Takingrisks, will be riding him in the race.

Holme Abbey got off the mark with a win over fences at Hexham in May. He has done plenty of schooling in preparation for his run tomorrow. Rickety Gate won nicely at Carlisle last time out, it would be nice if he could run well again. It has been frustrating to get Rose Of Siena onto a track due to unfavourable weather, but hopefully the ground has come good for her and she should run a nice race.

Next week looks to be another busy one, with plenty of entries at various tracks. Carlisle hosts it’s 4th meeting of the season on Monday and we have several runners.

Snowy Clouds runs in the opener for Highclere Thoroughbreds – he will be the first horse we have trained for them so we hope to get off to a good start. He dead-heated in his point-to-point in April – the other ‘winner’ is now in training with Nicky Henderson and finished second on Thursday at Ludlow.

In the mare’s hurdle we are represented by Rubytwo. She has had a bit of break since the summer and that should have freshened her up a little bit. Despite running 24 times, she has never ran at Carlisle so it’ll be interesting to see how she comes up the hill.

Blakerigg runs in the 3:10 Handicap Chase and both Headscarf Lil and Glittering Love are declared for the 3:40 Handicap Hurdle over three miles.

 

We have further entries at Bangor-On-Dee Wednesday and Market Rasen & Sedgefield on Thursday. All horses seem in good form at home and we’re enjoying being busy with runners.

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Best Wishes

All at Greystoke