Devon

It was lovely to have a couple of days off with family in Devon. Once the sales preparation of the yearlings begins in earnest there is not much spare time. On the way home we visited Killerton a National Trust property. I must say we found the house to be a bit gloomy but we had a nice lunch and the gardens and views were spectacular. The photograph below is of a lace cap hydrangea that I thought was very pretty.

Champagne Still On Ice

Well Friday brought a bit of cheer on the racecourse but no result worthy of a champagne celebration. Swingle finished 5th and ran proper race showing plenty of early speed she just did not quite get home. The trip might have been a bit too far but probably the ground was on the slow side, she tried hard and a win looks a distince possibilty if all goes well. Rhythmn Stick our other runner on Friday made a good effort of it despite a very unlucky run when he got stopped by a horse that slowed down in front of him when on the rails. Despite this and his total inexperience he got going again all be it too late. They both showed promise so it wasn't a total disaster.

Swingle

Swingle as a yearling summer 2008
Well we still haven't managed the champagne but may be edging closer to the bottle! Swingle ran a very "green " race at Chepstow but once she got the hang of it and decided to run in a straight line she did make some late headway. Since then she has been working well at home and has an entry for a maiden race at Nottingham on Friday afternoon. I went to watch her at Chepstow and I was absolutely delighted with the way she had progressed physically since buying her in July. I wont be able to go and watch her run at Nottingham because I will be in Devon for a couple of days but I will be in a betting shop to watch on TV!

No Champagne yet!

Well no champagne so far! Batgirl was a creditable 3rd but may be found the ground a little fast and Veil of Night was last not creditable at all in fact very disappointing but in mitigation she did spread a shoe on a hind foot during the race which more than likely upset her action. She also got a bit warm in the preliminaries which is not something she has done before. Newbury was a buzzy place for a 2yr old yesterday with Arab and pony racing taking place besides the normal card. Anyway she has come home in one piece and the run is best forgotten as it was too bad to be true. Tomorrow Swingle makes her debut and we are not sure what to expect but the word is quite hopeful from Derek (trainer) and we are looking forward to seeing her run.