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2nd place at Wolverhampton
15th April 2008
We had a good result at Wolverhampton yesterday when Shatter Resistant (pictured below) was just beaten into second place by a neck over five furlongs. It was only the three year old's second race for us and Jeremy felt he had just found the key to him. He was looking and going well at home and there is no doubt that the new tactic of dropping him out in the race and coming with a late run suited the horse, who ran well from a bad draw. Of course when you run a horse in a seller you have to be prepared to lose him and unfortunately Shatter's performance did get noticed and he was claimed by Mr Squance in Newmarket. We're sad to see the horse go as we feel there were races to be won with him but we wish his new connections all the best.
Our new 12 horse barn is now complete and filling up fast. Four more horses came back from their winter breaks this week to start full work. Perhaps the most well-known of them is Ouninpohja who is looking fresh and well after his time away and will commence ridden work next week. He is undoubtedly going to be a huge challenge but it goes without saying that we are all looking forward to seeing what we can do with him. The other three returnees are Escolhida, Taine and Nobelix. Escolhida is the as yet unraced full sister of Septimus, Taine has raced just the once when he was beaten by just over a length and Nobelix (pictured below) is our smart dual-purpose horse who has multiple wins on the flat and over hurdles.
Also helping to fill up our boxes this week were two new arrivals. The first was fresh from the breeze up sales and is a two year old bay colt by Royal Applause, out of Feather Boa. The dam has already produced a winner with her first foal and Royal Applause is the British Champion two year old sire. The colt (see photo below) should be on the course at some point this year. The second new horse is Mexilhoeira, a four year old mare by Observatory out of With Music in Mind. She is owned by Wendy Price and is another one to look out for as the season progresses.
Owner Evelyn Smith visited us this week, along with her friend Carmel and Carmel's sister who was over from Ireland. As always they brought in the obligatory bag of carrots and shared them out throughout the yard. Northern Endeavour, Northern Seren, Northern Destiny and Silent Dream probably got the lion's share as these are all horses Evelyn has bred (she still owns Seren and half of Destiny). They even made the trip out to the field to give Evelyn's retired broodmare Northern Jinks a quick snack (see photo below).
Stamford Street is our first runner to look out for this week. He makes his debut for the yard at Kempton on Thursday night at 21.20. The horse hasn't got the best previous form but he is looking and feeling well at home and we are looking forward to seeing how he goes. He is set to run over 6 furlongs in the Classified Stakes so keep your fingers crossed for him. Derry City is entered at Wincanton on Sunday but the course seems to get more and more popular and the probability of him getting a run is slim. He also holds entries at Plumpton on Monday and at Fontwell and Chepstow later on next week.
