April 14th Update
Starting with some good news for the Surrey Lord syndicate owners, he was rescanned this week and his injury has fully healed, so he’s been given the green light to resume training, although he won’t return to Toby’s until the end of the month as the paddock at Henfold is too wet. There’s no point starting to work him yet with the new season 5-6 months away so he’ll have another couple of easy months before kicking on in June.
Let’s hope that we have similar results from Surrey Mist’s scan, which I believe will be this week, and Surrey Fire who will be rescanned next week. Mist was due back at Kevin’s today to hopefully resume cantering while Fire has been doing a lot of walking in the past few weeks.
Unfortunately we do have an injury as Surrey Charm is lame. Hughie’s vet has had a look at her and took x-rays of her back joints but these weren’t clear so there’s no obvious reason for the discomfort. The next step is to have her scanned, which hopefully will get to the root of any problem but it’s obviously frustrating as she’s wintered well and was looking better than ever this Spring.
Of the others, Surrey Fortune is still chilling in Cornwall. Surrey Shadow is well and although won’t be running this week, could be on the track next week. Tom is pondering Yarmouth on the 23rd but as he expects Shadow to run very green on his first appearance so it may be easier to visit the local course and keep things fairly simple, Shadow therefore could make his debut at Chelmsford on Thursday 25th.
Surrey Belle is thriving and Hughie initially did think she wouldn’t be ready until early/mid May but he is now pondering an earlier return and visiting Wolves on April 29th. It was there that she ran and won pretty well so it could be the ideal place to repeat the same. Both Belle and Shadow will be campaigned on the turf though once the initial appearance is out of the way.
It was good to go racing again last week with Surrey Force at Lingfield on Monday. The owners even managed a few drinks in the sun which was nice after all the rain we’ve had! The plan for Force was an educational run on a different type of track, which he handled pretty well, and with that being his third run we await the handicapper for his opening mark. After that we can then make a plan to start winning races on galloping turf tracks over 10-12 furlongs. The owners have all had a best guess on that handicap rating and the range was from the lows 60s to high 70s ! My thought would be 66 but he was beaten 12 lengths by a horse rated 84 so there is an argument for higher, each pound is 2 lengths for races over a mile. We’ll find out Tuesday morning.
Hopefully some of us may have sore heads on Tuesday morning as Surrey Noir makes his reappearance at Windsor on Monday in the 3.50 race, a class 4 handicap over 6 furlongs with Kieran Shoemark riding. Charlie says Noir has been working well at home and has certainly improved from last year (which is not to say other horses would have as well) so we are confident of a decent season ahead. That may not be tomorrow as he’s been off the track for nearly 200 days and has a poor draw in stall 12 of the 12 runner race. We would like some rain tomorrow morning which would not only suit Noir but also when Windsor is heavy the horses tend to run down the far side which would help stall 12. We do have 2 wins (Surrey Mist and Surrey Thunder) and a third (Surrey Blaze) from our 3 appearances from Windsor, I think if we get the rain Windsor will continue to be a happy hunting ground!
Thursday we have the open morning at Kevin’s so we are looking forward to catching up with some of the Surrey Force and Surrey Mist owners, 10.30-12.00 that is scheduled for, with racing at Newmarket for those staying on. There will be 8 owners attending from Surrey Racing, there’s still time if anyone else wishes to join.
Finally, and with absolutely no disrespect to the Noir owners, next Saturday we have a proper Surrey Racing highlight! Who would have thought last year we would be where we are with Surrey Quest. One of the owners (who won’t mind me quoting him) said last February 2023 ‘ the horse has gone backwards dramatically, he needs to be sold because he has no interest in racing, a different trainer maybe an option but it would take a massive turnaround’. We will have a beer in Glasgow on Friday evening and laugh about that as we prepare for the Scottish Grand National in Ayr on Saturday. Toby has been so meticulous in his preparations the past few weeks leaving no stone unturned looking for that marginal gain, even having Quest wear a horse version of a covid mask to stop him getting any bugs! Quest is in great shape, and although it’s an absolute pleasure to be involved in a race of this magnitude we wouldn’t be travelling that distance (and that applies to any horse and race) if we didn’t think we had a competitive chance. A lack of a recent run may go against Quest but a combination of the poor weather and illness hampered those plans but he will give it his very best shot. There are 17 syndicate owners travelling up to Scotland, it’s going to be a cracking weekend, and it’s why we get involved in shared ownership – living the dream!
We’ll see you at Windsor, Newmarket, Glasgow and Ayr this week – best of luck to all connections and here’s hoping the horses come back safe and well.
Possible races and events
April
Monday 15th – Surrey Noir - Windsor
Wednesday 17th - Craven Breeze Up Sale
Thursday 18th – Kevin’s Open Morning 10.30-12.00
Saturday 20th – Surrey Quest – Ayr - Scottish Grand National
Tuesday 23rd - Surrey Shadow – Yarmouth
Wednesday 24th - Surrey Charm - Catterick
Wednesday 24th - Goffs Breeze Up Sale
Thursday 25th – Surrey Shadow - Chelmsford
Saturday 27th – Surrey Quest – Sandown – BET365 Gold Cup
Monday 29th – Surrey Charm – Windsor
- Surrey Belle - Wolves
May
Thursday 2nd – Guineas Breeze Up Sale
Thursday 9-11th – Arqana Breeze Up Sale
Tuesday 21st – Surrey Racing Golf Day – Silvermere Golf Club