10th August Update
The sun is back, and the ground was quick at Haydock which curtailed Surrey Shadow’s plans for the weekend. Looking at the forecast we may have to wait a few more weeks before we see him back on the track. There aren’t many options for him over the next few weeks, possibly Goodwood on Sunday 24th but the forecast is certainly against that. It may be that Shadow has a run on the all-weather as he’s in good shape and that would boost his fitness before some bigger races on turf through September and October.
Stablemate Surrey Moon’s tendonitis isn’t too much of an issue this week, but he will still be taking it very easy until he stops this growth spurt. Hopefully, he’ll be cantering by the end of August, but Tom is prepared to be patient with him. Surrey King is now doing two canters and looking sharper physically and coming along steadily.
Surrey Fire is looking perkier this week and starting to be built back up. We have obviously discussed with Hughie why he has failed to meet expectations, and his view is that Fire is holding himself back, particularly at York on the firmer ground. He wasn’t blowing afterwards and the next day it was if he hadn’t had a race. This could be related to him “feeling his legs” but it doesn’t show as a problem on the gallops at home and so whether this is a mental or physical thing it is very frustrating. We spoke with Hughie about options from now until the end of the season and he thinks that maybe soft ground (as suggested by Oisin) will see a better performance as it may be easier on the legs, it is certainly worth trying. Hughie thinks we should cut our losses and move on, so one idea Is running him in a selling race at Goodwood on Sunday 24th, it would need a change in the forecast.
In other racing news, in betting terms, 25 years ago horse racing had the field to itself with no real competition and a betting industry that relied upon the sport as its key product line. Today, we see a vastly different landscape with almost every sport offering a betting option and now football has 45% of the betting market. Horse racing has 35%, with golf, tennis, and boxing sharing 25% of the rest. All sports betting is subject to affordability checks so racing needs to look at the reason for a big loss in market share. The flat racing main event, Royal Ascot, saw 1 million viewers each day on ITV, compare that to the World Darts Final on Sky, an audience of 3 million. Racing needs to take note and this week the BHA announced an overhaul of the 2026 Fixture List. Unfortunately, a bloated race program of over 1450 fixtures has been cut by just 2 ! However, on the plus side there is an additional £4.4m in prize money available, the bulk of that increasing the minimum prize (£10k) for novice and maidens on the flat and jumps, as well as boosting prizemoney for Britain’s pattern races. Further steps have been taken to better define the seasons with (reduced) premier racedays held between May and October on the flat and Jumps, November to April. More is needed.
Enjoy the week ahead
Possible races and events.
August
Sunday 24th – Surrey Fire, Surrey Shadow - Goodwood
September
Friday 5th – Toby Lawes Open Day 12.30
October
Friday 24th – Surrey King - Newbury