Horses First Racing

Previous Newsletter - 06th January 2008

January 2008

06th January 2008

We couldn't be more excited about what 2008 may hold, with our smart 2 year olds now in work, some promising new National Hunt prospects arriving and our facilities improving almost weekly. Just to whet our appetite for what the horses have in store for us this year, the yard's first runner of 2008, Eleanor Eloise, ran a cracking race to finish 2nd behind an odds-on favourite at Lingfield yesterday. It was only the filly's 3rd run and she has been steadily progressing every time. Owner and breeder John Hawkins is delighted to see the horse that he bred go so well as she is named after his daughter. 'Ellie' (pictured on the rail in 2nd place - below) will be back racing again soon and it wouldn't be an overly bold statement to say that she should find her way to the winner's enclosure before too long.

After introducing you to so many new horses in last month's news you could be forgiven for thinking that this newsletter wouldn't contain many new names. Happily five more prospects have taken up residence at The Beeches. Mutual Respect (pictured below), a smart National Hunt horse, has joined us from Paul Nicholls' yard. He has run 1st and 2nd in bumpers and came 3rd in 2 of his 3 hurdle starts. On the other start he came in 4th behind the classy 130 rated winner, Hills of Aran. He's clearly a nice animal and we are looking forward to running him soon. Arriving from the Cheltenham Horses in Training sales we had three four year olds, Quedillac, Hold's Nik and an unnamed Flemensfirth gelding. Quedillac is a French-bred gelding by Clerkenwell, a useful sire who raced for Sheikh Mohammed and has sired jumps winners. Hold's Nik is a striking chestnut gelding by Nikos. He is a powerful little horse and has taken well to popping over poles and small jumps. The Flemensfirth gelding is an exciting prospect as his sire's jumping progeny have won over £1,238,776. The horses are in work and should make their racing debuts this year.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Jeremy took a runner to Lingfield last month, saw a horse he liked the look of run third in the claiming race and duly arranged for him to be on our lorry returning home. Chief Exec (pictured below) is a 6 year old brown gelding who has already won races and been placed plenty of times. Jeremy felt he was a bit unlucky in the race we claimed him from where he ran on well to finish a fast-closing 3rd. We stepped the horse up in class and ran him on 28th December back at Lingfield where he came a good 5th from a bad draw (14 of 14). The Racing Post shared our enthusiasm about his effort, commenting: “Chief Exec was settled last from his unfavourable draw and had plenty to do two furlongs out. Swinging widest off the home bend, he stayed on well and his new connections can have fun with him in this mood."

Chief Exec is one of the horses we have decided to syndicate. We will keep him running over the winter and he is entered in races later this month. If you fancy having a bit of fun with him you can purchase a 10% share for £1,200 +VAT and then pay all-inclusive training bills of £180 per month +VAT. If jumping is more your thing we have an exciting opportunity to get involved with Paradigm Shift, an unraced 5 year old gelding who will be making his racing debut next month. By Night Shift, he is the half brother to a 110,000 gns Monsun colt who won his maiden on the flat by 15 lengths. The horse has started jumping at home and is showing extraordinary athleticism, making him a potential future chaser. There are 3 shares left in 'Leo' as he is known at home. He is pictured in the photo on the left with Mary Hebbard and her daughter Catherine from our village, Sutton Veny who, along with husband Iain, have a share in him. You can purchase 10% of Paradigm Shift for £1,500 +VAT and pay the all-inclusive training bills of £180 per month +VAT. If you have slightly more money to spend, we have a lovely 2 year old filly by the exciting stallion Acclamation (she was featured in the last newsletter) available at £6,000 +VAT for a 10% share, with the same monthly training fees. For more information on our syndicates please contact Syndicate Manager Kelly Baker at kelly@horsesfirstracing.com or on 01985 841166.

Having introduced you to the new equine faces at Horses First Racing I'd like to move on to the human additions to the team. First up is Jo Smith, who is a qualified accountant. Jo (pictured below) has joined us as Financial Controller after spending time teaching Professional Stage Accountancy in Bristol and Cardiff. She has three horses of her own and has ridden up to one star level in eventing. It is great to have her on board and my wife Oriana is especially pleased to be able to relinquish some of the financial duties to her. We have also appointed Matthew Latus as a new work rider. Matt has ridden for most of his life and is keen to progress in racing. I'd like to welcome Jo and Matt to the team and look forward to working with them.

The resurfacing work on our hill gallops is ongoing and progressing well despite the consistent effort by the weather to delay it for as long as possible. Although it has been hard for Jeremy not having a hill gallop to use, our flat gallops have been indispensable and it will be well-worth the inconvenience when the hill gallops are completed with the new fantastic waxed surface. The construction teams here are being kept working hard, as they have just started work on our brand new 20 stall barn which should hopefully be ready by the start of the summer. The team has just completed the all-weather riding tracks that we have installed around the farm, providing the horses with a safe alternative route back to the stables after work.

Four of our 2 year olds came back from their pre-training yards last week to start full work in preparation for their racing campaigns. Hanta Yo (a colt by Alhaarth), Sutton Veny (our Acclamation filly) and 2 other colts by Tobougg and Danetime (the latter is pictured below) are all nice-looking horses and we are excited to see how they will develop. We have six more youngsters due to come back to us over the coming weeks, taking the number of horses we currently have in work to over the 30 mark. Horses to look out for next month are Paradigm Shift, Mutual Respect, Northern Seren, Micky Cole, Chief Exec, Cheonmado and Jahash.

We'll be in touch each month this year so please feel free to forward this newsletter to any friends and family that may be interested in what we are doing.

Thanks to everyone for your support & interest.