Anticipation!

Batgirl's and Veil of Night's halfsisters

sharing breakfast.


Over the next few days we should have three runners two that are still owned by us and one that is now owned elsewhere. All of them have shown some ability Veil of Night and Batgirl have won and Swingle, recently bought back by us, has shown good work at home. It is the most exciting experience to own and or breed a racehorse that has ability. For most owners and breeders just the knowledge that their pride enjoy might win is amazing but the adrenalin rush created by a win is extremely addictive! I have been addicted all my life as my father owned the odd National Hunt horse and we were regular visitors to tracks from Bangor 0n Dee to Cheltenham as children. The anticipation of the next few days is accute, lets hope it all ends with a glass of champagne.

No more spots!

The pony foals have all changed their coats to grey so no more spots!

Sid

This is Sid enjoying life at the grand old age of 12. He still comes on the morning and evening walk although going at his own pace. He has a sit down from time to time and surveys the scene preferring to let the younger members of the pack do the hard work however if something interesting comes to light he's quick to join in.

Runners

Lettering's half sister by Pastoral Pursuits

Well yes its raining again today! The forecast looks better for later next week and so we should be able to finish painting the outside of the house. Three of us put two coats on the front yesterday and it does look very smart. The gable ends are high so I shall have to organise some scaffolding when the weather looks settled again. At this time of the year its always a race to get all the maintenance jobs done before the horses have to come in again. We pressure wash and paint the stables, creosote the paddock rails and mend any damage along the way.

It wont be long before the yearlings are in at night for their sales preparation, they usually come in about ten weeks before the sale and are gradually introduced to walking and lunge work. Its enjoyable seeing them change from rather pudgy field loungers to well muscled and shiny mini racehorses. I like to strike a happy balance for them between work and play so they all go out in the paddock for a few hours every day even during the build up to the sales.

This week there are two runners for us one a filly called Lettering enterd for FFos Las on Tuesday and the other is Cometh enterd for Lingfield on Wednesday. Lettering is another filly that failed to sell at the yearling sales she is working quite nicely so hopefully she will run ok although there are no great expectations for her first outing. Cometh will be running for the second time and has also worked ok recently she belongs to Larry who is going to watch her it would be great if she could put up a good performance.

Winners!

The weather has been very windy and wet for the last few days and so it was good to walk round this morning and find the mares grazing in the middle of the field and the foals lying down in relative comfort.

It has been a very good week on the racecourse for us. On Saturday 10th July Batgirl ran at Nottingham over 6f and won very nicely. It was great for her owner Tony Fordham as it was his first ever winner. She is trained by John Berry at Beverley House Stables in Newmarket. It was also Serriera's first winner. Batgirl is her second foal and is by Mark of Esteem, she also has a yearling filly by Beat Hollow that goes to Tattersalls sale in October and is currently in foal to Halling. Our second winner was yesterday and that was Veil of Night, a filly that we failed to sell last year. She is not very big but has a gutsy attitude to life, she is trained by Derek Haydn Jones at Pontypridd. Her dam is Tenebrae who has an Avonbridge yearling filly and a Three Valleys filly foal. Veil of Night is by Val Royal now sadly dead but an underated stallion that sired the 2000 guineas winner Cockney Rebel who is now standing in Newmarket at the National Stud where his father also stood. Its lovely when all the hard work pays off horses are such a long term investment both in terms of time and money so its really important to celebrate the good days and we did!

Janos

I ended the day with a walk across the fields with the dog at about 22.00 hours it was still light, mild and not the slightest breeze. Janos (pictured I did manage to find a photo after all!) is a great companion and friend. I am so lucky to live in such a wonderful place.

Routine Stuff

What an idiot! I left my camera behind (which I didn't use at the time) when I was in Newmarket so my blogging is not going to be illustrated until next week when I go back for a few days so I will just have to try and make my text interesting!

All has been routine since I got home we had the farrier last Thursday to trim the yearlings feet we try to do them about every 5 weeks. I used to get them done every 4 weeks but times are a bit tight financially so I have made small savings where I can without jeopardising the horses welfare. The yearling sales last year were difficult we sold 2 out of 4 offered and I have 7 to go this year which may prove a challenge. For the last two years we have had mainly fillies and this makes selling all the more difficult as commercially colts will always have the edge.

The unsold fillies from last year are in training which is a big risk and expense but I am a believer in supporting my own stock after all if I don't think they are worth training why would anybody else think so! The first one to bite the dust so to speak is "Shot Silk" she has run twice and despite showing a good turn of foot at home (she's been in training with Nick Littmoden) she has been disappointing on race days. She is very light on pedigree so she will have to go and do another job. Luckily she 's a nice strong good looking filly and someone will be able to retrain her I'm sure. Veil of Night by Val Royal out of Tenebrae that is in training with Derek Haydn Jones at Pontypridd is a much better filly she has been 4th twice and she will run at Nottingham next Saturday all being well. He also has "Lettering" by Iceman out of Calligraphy she has not run yet as she did not go into training until March reports of her work are good so far.

The two fillies we sold last year were both really nice horses . The Haafhd filly out of Divina Mia is with Stuart Williams and I called to see her last week. I thought she had done exceptionally well since I last saw her, she has developed a very strong top line with a good hind quarter. Stuart thinks she will be ready to run in about a month. She has been named "Apple Dumpling". The other filly a Bahamian Bounty out of Serriera has been named "Tribouley" but I have not been able to get an update on her.

Today I have just been doing routine stuff I wormed the yearlings and moved them onto a fresh field, then had to bring in some ponies that were getting too fat always a problem at this time of year. The recent rain has flushed the grass, very welcome for the thoroughbreds and the sheep but not so good for native ponies. They will be in a yard during the day and out on a bare paddock at night for the next few weeks so that they don't get laminitis. I already have one old mare in who is very prone to bad feet and she has been in for a while.