Florida’s dream start

26/11/22
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas.  The hard work has of course continued here at the yard.  No rest for the wicked!

We’ve had a busy week of racing starting with 3 runners at Newcastle on Boxing Day, Gege Ville, Maughold Head and Coniston Clouds.  We had no luck mostly due to ground conditions as it was very soft and tacky.
On the 27th Castle Rushen ran at Wetherby.  He unfortunately unseated his rider, it was his first run over fences so he has a lot to learn about his job and we’re sure that he’ll keep progressing.
On the 29th we had Glittering Love, Big Bad Bear, No Regrets and Universal Folly at Kelso.
The next day, we went to Haydock with Crystal Glory and Coniston George who finished second on his first run.  We were all very proud of how tough we was.
We had two runners at Musselburgh on New Years Day.  Thankfully those of us that were racing were very sensible and had fresh heads… Miracles do happen!  Everyday Champagne ran a nice race considering the ground conditions didn’t suit him.  Findthetime stayed on well to finish 4th.
We have been graced with the best of Cumbrian weather, it’s been very dreary and raining non stop all week.  The horses and riders have been kitted out in their waterproofs.

2/1/23
Our first Monday of 2023 was of course spent at the races with Serious Ego, Marown and Serious Mickey running at Ayr.
On the 3rd we went back to Musselburgh with Florida Dreams making a dreamy start to his career winning first time out.  He picked up really nicely on the testing ground with the help of Danny McMenamin.  It’s great to see the young horses making such a promising start to their career, it’s exciting for all of us.

Yesterday, on the 7th, Castle Rushen and Houston Texas both ran lovely races at Newcastle.
We are all still working hard despite all of this rain and we’ve made the most of the odd sunny days that we get.  We have a few entries next week so hopefully we have safe runs and maybe even a winner or two!

Carrying on from my last blog, I’m going to introduce another horse in the yard.  I’m sure you’ll all have heard of Simply Ned.  He’s having a little holiday with us while his Mum, Caroline, recovers from an injury.  We love having him back!  Ned is 16 years old now but he doesn’t look a day over 9!

He won 9 races for Nicky and won almost £140,000 in prize money.  His biggest win was in Ireland at Leopardstown back in 2018 in a Grade 1 Chase at their Christmas festival.  Mark Walsh steered him to Victory, beating Footpad and Ruby Walsh.  He was retired in 2020 and has been treated like a king by Caroline ever since.