Ups and downs

January was a month of ups and downs, luckily mostly highs. The month started off brilliantly with Mercian Prince defeating a good bunch of established handicappers at Sandown Park, where he was given an excellent ride by Jack Quinlan. He reappeared at Cheltenham at the end of the month, which was an exciting experience. However, all did not go to plan and he came down when in with a great chance three out. The handicapper had put him up seven pounds from Sandown to 135, a mark which is agonisingly close to what would be required for a couple of handicaps back at Cheltenham in March. I was delighted to see him school well the following Wednesday where he looked to have put that spill behind him. There are a couple of options available to him before entries for Cheltenham close.

It provided great pleasure to me and the team, especially our head girl Anna, when Mariah’s Legend won on hurdling debut at Huntingdon. Mariah has always been one of the better workers at home and it was good to see her deliver on the track. She was much more tractable pre-race, which certainly assisted with the improved performance. We brought in a companion pony, Rita, for her, which helped immensely. She is set to be out this week either at Doncaster under a penalty or in the Listed contest at Warwick on Saturday.

Mercian Princess made her racecourse debut at Wetherby in a bumper, which looked a more than useful event. She was given a great introduction and will be out again in the near future in another fillies only bumper.

Sean was given a very confident ride by George Baker at Lingfield Park at the end of the month and won in good fashion, back up to two miles. Moved to a mark of 60, he will contest a similar type to last time later this month.

With the highs, comes the lows and the yard experienced that at Doncaster, when unfortunately, Jade’s Legend had to be put down after suffering a mid-race injury. I cannot be more grateful to the racecourse, who made sure that connections and myself were well looked after in the aftermath.

On a brighter note this month we are very pleased to have welcomed new owners to the yard, with Gwyn & Samantha Powell sending their homebred juvenile filly, who is from the first crop by Cityscape. New to racehorse ownership is Simon King who has purchased both Carnival King and our Sir Prancealot X Hapipi two-year-old, it’s welcoming to have  completely fresh faces to the sport. We have also been sent an Authorized three-year-old filly from Julian Bickerton of Howses Stud. While three horses in the ownership of Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar were kindly sent by their manager Tony Nerses.  

Finally, as you will see on the homepage, the Racing Club has now been set up and for those interested in finding out more about a very affordable way to own racehorses, click HERE. Last week at the Tattersalls February Sale it proved tough going trying to find a horse for the club and so the search continues onto the Goffs February Sale this week, where there are a few options.  

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