15th December Update
We had two runners last week; both ran well but not quite good enough which does seem to be the story of the year.
Surrey Noir raced at Chantilly on Tuesday and yet again appeared to lose the race in the first two furlongs. On his previous run he broke slowly and then was pushed too hard to get to the front leaving nothing left for this finish. Last week, he broke well from a poor draw but was held up which was the plan, and in hindsight was probably too far off a very slow pace. He finished like a train but couldn’t make up enough ground coming home in 6th place, only two lengths off the winner, and only a neck off finishing third, small margins. It makes sense to race again as surely he can win at this level and the prize money is too good to turn down. Noir was hardly blowing afterwards and was fine the next day so Tim will look for a suitable race in about 3 weeks’ time, but he may look at 1300-1400m races which should have more pace in the race.
Surrey Lord had only his 2nd racetrack appearance on Thursday at Warwick, and that was another very slow starting race with Lord obliged to take up the running. He settled well in front though and would have learnt from the outing. Unfortunately, the race turned into a sprint finish, Lord didn’t quite have the same speed as some of the others and lost a few places in the final furlong to finish a credible 5th, only 3 lengths off the winner. It’s hard to tell how good a race it was with many horses making their debuts, but the general feeling was that this was a decent field. Lord was fine afterwards, he seems to really enjoy racing so it will be a short turnaround for the next and final bumper, early in the New Year before then going hurdling.
Next to run will be Surrey Quest, it’s feeling increasingly likely that he’ll be looking to retain the Mandarin Chase Trophy on December 28th at Newbury if the ground stays on the softer side of good.
There’s no news on the other horses, they are all well and doing their thing. We will arrange stable visits/breakfasts to see Tom and Hughie in February/March, by then the older horses will be ready to race and the yearlings (who will be two year olds) will be a lot further along with their education.
It’s been it’s been interesting following the almost daily trials and tribulations of UK racing which seems to shoot itself in the foot at every chance, not helped by organisations who talk a good game but don’t seem to have any clout to change anything. Costs continue to rise and prize money lags. ITV and Paddy Power have been celebrating the new points-based competition for jumps jockeys, with a top prize of £500 000 up for grabs. The top 10 jockeys get rewarded, as do trainers and racing staff, but those who buy and provide the horses are inexcusably left out. We all know who the top jockeys will be, one of those, Harry Cobden, said “it’s a huge amount on offer, we will be trying to win as many as those ITV races as we can”. Isn’t that par for the course?!! With points awarded down to a 4th place finish, hopefully the horse’s best interests are put further forward than scrapping for minor places. It was also interesting to read that Paddy Power and ITV were behind the Champions Full Gallop show, and they plan another series. However, they have approached the Levy Board (which funds prize money) for funding, the amount being the exact same that is up for grabs in the Jockeys Cup, coincidental ? Strangely, the rumour is that the Levy Board have signed off on this request, thus again knocking owners in the pocket. France becomes more and more appealing by the day!
Enjoy the last full week before Christmas.
Possible races and events.
December
Saturday 28th – Surrey Quest - Newbury
January
Thursday 16th - Sea Presenting - Ludlow
February
Saturday 22nd – Surrey Quest - Newcastle
March
Saturday 29th – Surrey Shadow - Doncaster
April
Saturday 12th – Surrey Quest - Ayr