Horses First Racing

Owner visits and a great week for sport

08th July 2008

It was great to see some dedication amongst our owners this morning, as both John Hawkins and Wendy Price braved the wind and the rain to get up early and come and visit their horses. John even took on the M25 at 6am which proved to be a mistake and made him decide to take the train next trip. He arrived in time for 2nd lot which meant he was able to see his three horses, Yvonne Evelyn, Cheonmado and Eleanor Eloise work. Wendy came in to visit her four year old filly, Mexilhoeira, who is looking well (both are pictured below). Wendy also bred our two year old Kyllachy filly who is due to return to us from her pre-training yard next Monday.

After three winning tips in 3 weeks this week I'm going to pause to reflect on the magnificence of professional sports. Last week we tipped up Nadal as a force of nature against the 5 time Wimbledon Tennis Champion Roger Federer. Nadal won but in a match of quality and drama any betting was very secondary (even if the bets were a trifle large). Both athletes are true champions and remarkable ambassadors for their sport. The match was played at full power from the first serve to the last. Roger was down two sets and 0-40 in the 3rd and looked down and out, however he shifted gears and his serving in the 3rd set tie break was absolutely incredible. With ace after ace he looked what he is: one of the greatest of all time. He took the 4th set in another tie break when again looking beaten and facing match points and what followed was breathtaking drama. The rain came and only added to the tension as the match was halted at 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 2-2. Both players were calling on their deepest reserves of stamina, genius and courage and at 8-7 Nadal got another crucial match point on his serve. He served a superb first serve driving Federer off the court and at full stretch. The clean winner that came back was one of the best tennis shots I've ever seen and despite the family fortune riding on Nadal I could only clap and cheer the brilliant audacity of the reining champ. He didn't even cheer or pump his fist he simply walked across the court to continue the match. Nadal (pictured below) looked a bit shaken but held his nerve to win his first Wimbledon. It may be a cliche but there was no absolutely loser on the court that night.

Back to the horses, Gaborone was a bit disappointing in her race on Saturday. Six furlongs at a fairly stiff track like Leicester was probably too much for her on only her second start and she didn't help herself by taking a keen hold and over-racing early on. She has come out of the race very well (she is pictured cantering this morning) and we'll look to run her back over five furlongs in a couple of weeks.

We have plenty of horses entered this week but it is still up in the air as to what will get a run and what won't. Northern Endeavour has been balloted out of his handicap hurdle tomorrow at Worcester. The track is attracting huge numbers of entries at the moment and there were 43 declarations in his race, only 12 of which would get a run! He has other options next week. There is a nice race for Danetime Lord on Saturday at Salisbury, one of our local tracks. It would see him dropping back to six furlongs, which he has previously won over but the ground would be a big question mark as he probably won't want it as soft as it is likely to be. We will make a decision on whether to run or not at the declaration stage. The lovely Ravenna has options at Windsor and Bath next week which are preferable to her Newbury entry this Friday and Cheonmado (pictured galloping below) is likely to bypass Saturday's entry at Chester and head possibly for Kempton next Wednesday.

Pictured below is the lovely Jeni Edge, our Equine Therapist, alongside my beautiful mother. They are stood next to our first crop of home grown Comfrey and Jeni is holding some Echinacea that we use to give our horses the best possible natural support. Special thanks to ma for planting the comfrey. A few years back when she was a nurse she was taking care of a patient with a very serious case of deep vein thrombosis. The doctor in charge said to my mother "I'm afraid there is nothing more we can do as the patient is not responding to any drugs". My mum asked if she could try Comfrey and the doctor said they were out of medical options so to go ahead. My mother chopped up fresh comfrey very finely and wrapped it around the patient's leg. The results were remarkable and just a few weeks later the patient was able to walk out of the hospital and went on to make a full recovery. We are very lucky to have some very progressive thinking vets who are happy to suggest Echinacea, Aloe Vera or honey when appropriate.

« View Previous Week  //  View Next Week