Stars Of The Season

29/04/22

With the official jumps season now finished, we look back on our year which was relatively restriction free and much more sociable than last year! We finished 35th in the trainers championship, with 37 winners, beating our tally from the two previous seasons. Frustratingly, we had many second places throughout the end of last year, and it would have been even better to have reached the 40 mark – which we will be aiming for next season!

In October, the season got off to a good start at Carlisle, when we had a double with Rickety Gate and Headscarf Lil. On the same day, our secretary Antonia Reid was presented with her Racing Welfare “Lifetime In Racing” Award and had friends and family there to support her.

A couple of days later, at Kelso, Duke Of Navan hung up his racing shoes after a successful career, making way for the younger talent of Nells Son, who won on his first start 0ver hurdles the same day. November saw Soft Risk and Crystal Glory also win on their hurdles debut, and the three of them are very exciting prospects to go chasing with next season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serious Ego had his first start for his new syndicate, finishing second at Hexham. Everyone who attended enjoyed a great day out as owners and got to know others in the syndicate.

November was also the beginning of Findthetime‘s winning ways, when he scored at Sedgefield. Despite being a tricky horse to handle, he proved he had ability by going on to win two more races for his owners Tor Side Racing. As owners, they’ve had a brilliant season, with Big Bad Bear and Universal Folly notching up two wins each as well.

Another double, this time at Ayr, rounded November off nicely, with Famous Bridge getting off the mark over hurdles and Gege Ville winning his bumper on his first start.

Glittering Love got back to winning ways at Carlisle in December and Soft Risk gained his second win over hurdles at Kelso. He followed this with another win in January, giving us our last winner of 2021 and first winner of 2022! He then went on to finish second in two handicap hurdles where he was giving both winners weight.

 

Kajaki put in a great performance under Danny McMenamin, when winning at Sedgefield in January. He will appreciate the drying ground and will likely have a few runs this summer.

Carlisle was a fruitful course for us this season, providing us with eight winners in total, two of those coming from the progressive staying chaser Houston Texas. He provided one half of a double in February, with Better Getalong also winning on the card.

 

This started a run of success, as five days later we had another double at Kelso, with Nells Son winning the Grade 2 Premier Hurdle, quickly followed by Famous Bridge winning a Class 2 Handicap Hurdle. In between these two races, Universal Folly won his race down at Doncaster. Nells Son’s win was sadly in the middle of the loss of two horses for his owners, Home Fire and Chidswell, so while his win lifted spirits, it was a very emotional week for us.

 

They say it comes in threes, and we also suffered the sad loss of Royal Arcade at Carlisle a week later. Our other runners lifted spirits once more when our next winners also came as a double, this time at Newcastle with She’s A Rocca & Big Bad Bear. This was even more special as neither had won a race last season and it was great to see a return to form for them both. It really was a week of ups and downs. Big Bad Bear then followed up his success with another win at Perth in April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in March, Parisencore finally got his day in the winners enclosure when winning a Maiden Hurdle by 10 lengths. He’d finished second on every start this season so we were delighted when he won. Like Bear, he also followed this with a win at Perth in April.

Court Dreaming and Everyday Champagne also had success, with wins at Carlisle and Hexham.

 

 

 

 

With the season drawing to a close, most of the horses were having their last runs. We went to Aintree with Crystal Glory and Nells Son, who both had their first starts in Grade 1 company. They both ran well and finished fourth in their respective races. After this they schooled over fences along with Soft Risk and will now enjoy a well deserved summer holiday. We can’t wait to see how much they have to offer when they take to fences next season.

We had a fantastic end to the season at Perth last week, with two winners (Parisencore and Big Bad Bear) and some credible placed efforts from others, including Aubis Walk and Miss Milano.

Although quieter through the summer, as most horses enjoy their break, we will still have a clutch of summer jumpers who relish the better ground. We head to Hexham on Saturday evening with Hard Iron, who will make his hurdles debut, Caius Marcius is back after a break, and Holme Abbey is back at the track he won at last summer.

Into next week and we have a few entries at Ayr and Kelso. The Best Way holds entries in bumpers on both cards, he is an unraced 4 year old owned by the MS Border Racing Club and we hope he can give them plenty of success going forward. Rose Of Siena also has her first entries over hurdles at Ayr on Tuesday, she’s been schooling nicely and she’s got experience of three bumper runs behind her.

 

We’d like to say a huge thank you to all our owners who continue to support us, as well as our amazing team of staff who keep the show on the road. May the 22-23 Jump Season be successful for all.