18th October Update
It was great to see a few of you on a chilly but gloriously sunny Saturday morning at Toby’s yard in Lambourn. A pleasant surprise was Abby’s mode of transport that morning was Surrey Quest who looked fantastic and is obviously enjoying his life outside of racing.
After chatting over tea/coffee and bacon rolls we all headed up Lambourn’s Kingsdown gallop which is a mile long polytrack gallop with one left hand turn and steady, rolling incline. With the spectacular views over the valley, Red Kites circling above and the accompanying sound of the horses pounding up the hill, there can’t be many better places to be on a bright Saturday morning. All the horses seemed in good shape and benefitting from working on the extensive gallops. Surrey Lord will be the first to hit the track in about 3 weeks’ time and he worked well under Kevin Brogan. Lord hasn’t quite taken to the bigger fences just yet although he will continue to be schooled and hopefully the penny will drop. However, there wouldn’t be any improvement at this point, so he’ll open his campaign over hurdles off his current mark of 116. There are options at Sandown (Nov 8th) Kempton (9th) and Cheltenham (13th/14th) so decent tracks to kick off the new season.
Hillsyde Hope isn’t as far forward and continues to work with a bungee to strengthen. However, he’s a very straightforward horse and he’ll certainly be ready to race towards the end of November, or maybe into the beginning of December. He’s only 4 so time is on his hands and there is no point rushing him at this stage. There are plenty of options for him although none really around the Surrey area so we may have to visit the Midlands or Wales! It’s worth pointing out that Surrey Lord’s debut wasn’t until November of his 5th year, so Hillsyde Hope is a year ahead. It was very noticeable in his work with Abby yesterday on how high his knee action is so he will need soft to heavy ground which is in short supply especially around the South of the country.
No new news about Surrey Moon, who should be starting to canter this week. Surrey King’s rehab is going to plan; he’s having quiet canters and long trots as he continues a gradual build up and hopefully a return to the track at the end of next month.
The Tattersall’s yearling sale has concluded, the most important two weeks in the European bloodstock calendar. In this period of global instability and geopolitical worries, it’s extraordinary to note that 210 million guineas was spent over the course of the 4 books with 68 yearlings costing more than 500 000 guineas. 86% of all lots found a home, with the median up 14% to 80 000 and the average up 7% to 150 000. I did think the results from Book 1 would stand out but the other books all held up remarkably well which is all the more impressive considering racing has many issues with effectively reduced prize money causing ownership numbers to fall as well as rumours of a tax on bookmaker profits in the next budget (October 28th) which may hinder their contribution (which isn’t much!) into racing.
We just want to go racing!
Have a super week ahead
Possible races and events.
November
Sunday 8th - Surrey Lord @ Sandown
Monday 9th – Surrey Lord @ Kempton
Friday 13th – Surrey Lord @ Cheltenham
Saturday 14th - Surrey Lord @ Cheltenham
Tuesday 24th – Surrey King @ Lingfield
December
Friday 11th – Surrey King @ Southwell