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FRIDAY 29TH JANUARY

We have ROYAL BET running this evening at Wolverhampton where he should have a good chance. He has been great form at home and this is his last chance to win for us before he takes up the engagement in the February Sales next Thursday at Tattersalls. He is capable of winning races and should have a good chance in this particular grade.

Also heading to the February Sales Thursday is AUNT NICOLA. She is a real sweet filly who has some good form and earned herself some black type as a two-year-old. She will make a nice broodmare and hopefully someone will take a liking to her at the sales and she will fetch a good price.

The horses start cantering on Monday and weather permitting hopefully we will be able to get some pictures of them. It is great to get January out of the way and now things start to pick up here again with the start of the season only about seven weeks away.

MONDAY 25TH JANUARY

ROYAL BET appears to be in great form after his race and he looks as though he will now head for Wolverhampton for the race on Friday that he has been entered for. We will see how he is over the next couple of before definitely declaring him on Wednesday.

We had been doing so well casualty wise with only the one victim, poor Blanca who has returned to work today on light duties. She is not a 100% but is a lot better than she was and so it is great to have her back. Today poor Hannah Little took a tumble of SATURN GIRL thankfully the horse is fine but poor Hannah has broken her wrist and possibly her elbow. The horse slipped on the concrete and we think it may have hit Hannah in her her face as this was a real mess. Thankfully after being cleaned up at the hospital she does not look as bad as first feared, but she will be very sore for a few days. SATURN GIRL ended up in the school playground opposite the yard and was thankfully caught by one of the mums who led her back to the yard which was much appreciated.

The horses have been really well behaved this year and I know the lads are all looking forward to the 1st February when they will resume cantering.

FRIDAY 22ND JANUARY

Well we managed to keep our 100% strike going on Wednesday but sadly it went down on Thursday with ROYAL BET. PASTEL BLUE was  being upped to her furthest trip to date on this return to maiden company. She appeared to make the most of the lack of pace in the race by dictating and, although a little keen early on, she found plenty in the straight to record her first victory in good style. She is a sweet little filly and it is great to get of the mark with her.

On Thursday we headed to Southwell with ROYAL BET who is well capable of winning races. He raced quite keen as he had done in his last three outings and soon pulled his way into the lead here. He was still in front turning for home and looked as though it may just have been his day but then hung away to the inside rail and was run right out of it inside the last furlong. He has taken the race well and is entered again on Friday and we are hopeful that he will finally get the job done before the February Sales.

That will be it then for our all weather runners, but I am really excited about getting my new camera which has cost a fortune so hopefully it will prove to be a worth while purchase when it arrives next week, just in time for when the horses start cantering.

WEDNESDAY 20TH JANUARY

We are hoping to keep our 100% strike rate going this afternoon when PASTEL BLUE runs at Lingfield. Although not as talented as Burghley hopefully she will give a good show here. It is great to get back to the action with the all weather runners as it makes things a bit more interesting during the long winter months.

Tomorrow we have ROYAL BET running at Southwell. He has also been in good form at home and although he is quite talented he does not always want to use his talent. He has an entry in the February Sales which is where he will be heading and hopefully he will get the job done tomorrow as this will only enhance his value.

That is it really for our all weather squad and everyone is now looking forward to the 1st February when the horses will start cantering again after doing a month of trotting. I have invested in a new camera for the season which I am waiting to have delivered and hopefully we will be able to get some nice pictures for the website next month when things start to get going again.

TUESDAY 12TH JANUARY

Well we have got off the mark for 2010 with our first winner when BURGHLEY went in at Wolverhampton yesterday. He made the running and the win never looked in any danger and he won nicely. We have always thought a lot of this horse and so it was no great surprise to see him when as he had been putting in some decent efforts at home in his work. it is always good to get off the mark with a 100% strike rate.

BURGHLEY and his groom MONIKA POKOSOVA

We have more action on Friday when ROYAL BET looks as though he will probably be running. He has been working nicely at home in his work and it would be great for him to get off the mark after some encouraging starts. He also holds an entry in the February Sales so it would be great to get a decent run out of him which will only enhance his value.

The snow has finally started to thaw which is a blessed relief and although we were forecast a lot of snow at the weekend, thankfully it did not materialize. It has not stopped us getting the horses out and getting some decent trots into them all though we did have another casualty this morning when our new employee from the racing school, Bianca Hopkins fell of MISS CHAUMIERE. Thankfully both horse and rider are okay.

FRIDAY 8TH JANUARY

We have made entries this week for BURGHLEY on Monday at Wolverhampton and on Friday at Lingfield and on Friday we have also entered ROYAL BET at Lingfield. We will be declaring BURGHLEY to run on Monday as we want him to run at Wolverhampton but due to the weather, meetings are getting abandoned all the time so we have Friday's entry incase the meeting does not go ahead. He will be ridden by Hayley Turner and we know that he is a nice horse who should be capable of winning races. He should give a very good account of himself, but he may just need the run.

The weather is causing major havoc in town and we have had to go to the heath via Newmarket High Street which has caused some strange looks whilst people are shopping, but it is the safest way to go and after all Newmarket is a horsey town! It has meant that we have been able to get all three lots out rather than having to keep them to the yard.

The weather certainly does not look like letting up and the weekend is forecast to be even worse with more snow and strong winds.

The horses are in good form and after having an easy time over Christmas and New Year, they have started getting quite fresh whilst on exercise and on Wednesday we had our first human casualty when poor Blanka Sarinova ended up on the floor after DR FINLEY slipped on the ice. Thankfully the horse escaped with no injuries at all but poor Blanka hit her head very hard and was knocked unconcious for a couple of minutes and had to go by ambulance to Bury St Edmunds hospital where thankfully they were happy to discharge her later in the day. She is still very sore and will take a couple of weeks to get over her injuries but at least she is okay.

 

MONDAY 4TH JANUARY

Firstly, we really hope you all had a lovely Christmas and we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. We have had another cold spell in the weather with more snow forecast this week. It has been getting quite frustrating when coming to exercise the horses, but we did manage to get the all weather squad on the heath. We are hopefully going to make some entries this week and the big sales race at Doncaster closes tomorrow.

Today we got some of our older horses in after having winter breaks. Mrs Ratcliffe did a wonderful job with HIGHLAND LEGACY, LOCHAN MOR, MOYENNE CORNICHE and REGENERATION. MOYENNE CORNICHE proved quite a tricky customer to deal with after he kept jumping his field gate but he soon settled into his rotuine and had done really well for the time off. It is great to have them back and they will now start a month of trotting. From Badlingham we got BABYCAKES, BOUNCY BOUCNY, RED AMY and WILD ROSE in and they to looked fantastic and Victoria who runs Badlingham deserves a lot of credit for all the hard work she has done with them and for the condition they came back to us in. Our final arrival back today was HORSERADISH who had been up near Lambourn where his owner Mrs Rowland-Clark lives staying at Jo Winters yard. It is a shame that it is quite far away as he came in looking an absolute picture and as always Jo Winter does such a fantastic job with the horses and it would be great to be able to send more horses to her.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to MING MENG coming back in after having missed all of last year due to immaturity. Also coming in is a three-year-old filly by TIGER HILL EX SITA which is still be named. They are owned by Mr Paddy Barrett and hopefully we will have far more luck for him this season. Also coming in is CHURCH OF ENGLAND, WIGMORE HALL and BLUE ZEALOT. All of the horses trot through January, which helps them build muscle and really does benefit them for the long season which lies a head.

 

MONDAY 21ST DECEMBER

      

YURIY AND KATERINA                           HELEN CAVANAGH

Well we have all got over the Christmas Pary celebrations in good order and we had a really fun evening at the White Hart Hotel. It was great to see everyone dressed up and enjoying the evening which got everyone in the Christmas spirit.

       

PAPPU AND SERGEY                             IAN BURNS

The boss gives out his annual awards which consists of an achievement award and the wooden spoon for the person who has made the most mishaps. This is always won by one of the traveling staff (usually shared between either Becky Gray or Gilly Dolman) and this year Becky or Gilly looked hot favorite to get it again. Sadly Becky could not make the party and so Gilly got the wooden spoon again for the second year running.

       

SUZIE AND BLANKA                             M. BELL AND HAYLEY

Tom Hemlsey won the achievement award for all his efforts with Art Connoisseur and Halfway House. He is such an good lad and since he arrived from the Racing School he has just improved so much.

     

KEVAN AND MRS MCEVOY              IAN AND BLANKA

The weather in Newmarket is certainly picture Christmas card weather and the heath looks absolutely beautiful when I take my dogs for a walk in the morning and it is completely deserted which is great for the dogs as they can have a run of the leads which is not allowed in the morning but you are okay as long as Mr Gittus from the Jockey Club does not catch you!

         

MATTHEW                                                  MONIKA

It has meant that the horses have had to be exercised in the barn and in the rings in the yard as it has just been to dangerous to get them out. They are starting to get quite fresh and with more snow forecast it looks as though its going to be a fun week.

         

CHRIS AND YVONNE CONWAY         REBECCA CAUDILLO

Hopefully in the New Year things will start to pick up and we will have some runners on the all weather which we can write about. I am not sure if we will get to update the website again before Christmas but if we dont we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas X.