January 14th Update
Already 2 weeks into the new year, and with that comes the beginning of plans for the horses returning from breaks for the flat season which starts in less than 11 weeks time !
Before that we hope to the syndicate owners will enjoy Surrey Quest in some big Saturday races, which will probably start at Doncaster on the 27th January, as he has an early entry into the Great Yorkshire Chase, a Premier Handicap over 3 miles with a prize pool of £100k – which is the biggest prize any of our NH horses have raced for. Quest has come on for his run at Newbury, he’s in fine shape and although the distance of this contest is probably a little short for him, he fully deserves to take his chance in what will be an extremely competitive contest attracting entries from the powerhouses in the UK and Ireland. The plan for Quest if he runs well is to go back to Doncaster in early March for the Grimthorpe Stakes although if he runs very well (and the handicapper is paying attention) then we will have to have a rethink!
Surrey Fortune is enjoying being in Cornwall and Surrey Lord has joined a pre training yard near Petworth for a change of scenery for a few months.
The first flat horse to run will probably be Surrey Force, he’s looking well and still in his shiny summer coat. He will continue trotting until the end of the month, after which he will start cantering. Kevin would like to run him on the all weather in mid March before switching to turf for his third race.
Surrey Noir has returned to Newmarket from Culworth Farm and will have a very steady month with hack canters until early February. He’s another who has benefitted from the break. The plan for him will be to make his seasonal debut on the turf in early April.
Surrey Shadow hasn’t had a break from the yard but he’s been having an easy time of things. As you may have seen on the WhatsApp he’s done very well physically and it won’t surprise you to learn that Tom has had to increase his feed! He’ll be trotting until the end of January and then have his work stepped up. Tom isn’t ruling out an all weather race in March but at the moment he is aiming for a turf debut at the end of March. (We are down to the last 12.5% available in him).
Hughie won’t be bringing the ladies in until the end of January so no update on those whilst Surrey Fire continues to hack about. We have arranged an horse syndicate owners morning visit for Saturday February 24th to see all three horses being put through their paces, and to hear the plans for the season ahead.
We enjoyed last years pub visit in Surbiton so we have booked the same place for our 2024 Surrey Social, early evening of Thursday March 7th at the Victoria Pub, which last year descended into a Cheltenham Festival Advisory meeting!! Get in touch if you wish to come along.
Have a great week, wrap up warm!
Possible races and events
2024
January
Saturday 27th – Surrey Quest – Doncaster – Great Yorkshire Chase
February
Saturday 24th – Hughie Morrison Stable visit
March
Saturday 2nd – Surrey Quest – Doncaster – Grimthorpe Chase
Thursday 7th – Surrey Social – Surbiton
Saturday 9th – Surrey Shadow and Surrey Noir Owners Breakfast
May
Thursday 9-11th – Arqana Breeze Up Sale
Tuesday 21st – Surrey Racing Golf Day