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Desert Quest wins over fences
25th March 2008
Another winner last week as we notched up our first National Hunt winner when Desert Quest (pictured) won a novice chase at Ludlow on Thursday. The horse jumped well throughout and went on to win by a length and a half under Liam Heard from City Affair. Never one to do more than he has to, the horse came home in excellent order and the race doesn't appear to have taken much out of him. His next engagement is likely to be at Aintree on Grand National day in the £125,000 Grade 1 Novice Chase over 2 miles. He's a class horse and deserves his chance at a big prize.
With all the extensive works carried out over the winter we knew and and had planned for the horses to start coming right around March. It's great that they are starting to run well and with winners now on both the flat and over jumps, we are hoping they go from strength to strength over the coming months. There are plenty of runners to look out for this week, the first one being Paradigm Shift who makes his racecourse debut at Fontwell Park at 5pm today. 'Leo', as he is known at home, will run in the bumper over 1 mile 6. He has previously made a noise with his breathing but generally works well with a tongue tie and noseband on and we are hoping it won't trouble him. Our conditional jockey Luke Kilgarriff takes the ride which takes 10llb off the gelding's back (the pair are pictured schooling below) and we will learn a lot about the horse from the race. Also running this week is Danetime Lord who is making his first start for the yard since arriving a couple of weeks ago. He is due to run over 7 furlongs at Lingfield on Friday and we hope for a big run from him.
Over the weekend we have a number of possible runners. Chief Exec goes back to Wolverhampton on Saturday to race over 7 furlongs. The horse is in great form at home and has gone from being the easiest ride in the yard to trying (and sometimes succeeding) to ditch riders left right and centre. If the pace of the race suits him he should be in with an excellent chance. On Sunday we would like to run Northern Seren in a novice hurdle at our local track, Wincanton. Unfortunately there are plenty of other trainers with the same idea and our mare may not get a run. She holds entries at Kempton this Wednesday and Taunton a week on Thursday to try and ensure she gets a run and in doing so picks up her handicap mark. The Empty Tin (pictured below with Laura Phillips) may run on Sunday at Kempton in the 3 mile beginners chase. He also needs this one last run before he is eligible for handicapped races and, like Northern Seren, has multiple entries to make sure he gets it. If he doesn't run Sunday he could head to Taunton for the 2 mile 7 novice chase.
Wendy Price, an old friend who used to have a horse in training with us, dropped by this week and kindly brought us a 2 year old filly by Kyllachy to go into training. It was the youngster's first trip away from home and after being initially wary she settled in well. We will take our time with this lovely youngster and so look for her on the racecourse at the end of the summer. Wendy and the filly are pictured below.
There's actually lots more to talk about but I won't keep you - see you next Tuesday!
