1st June Update
It was nice to get back racing again this week after what seemed like ages without a runner, the weather curtailing the NH season and the older flat horses preferring some give in the ground which is probably more for their protection more than their running style as they are both big strapping geldings who do put a lot of weight on their front legs.
We headed off to our local course, Sandown, on Thursday to see Surrey Shadow who hadn’t run for 2 months and had this race as a sort of Royal Ascot qualifier, although he had to win to get a 5 lb penalty which would have given him a good chance of making the Royal Hunt Cup field. Alas, it wasn’t to be, when he got badly hampered at the start, resulting in a lost shoe and then being further back that Neil Callan would have liked. A lot of people think losing a shoe shouldn’t be a hindrance, try running without one of yours!
Shadow trailed home in 6th, 8 lengths off the winner, and there ends the Royal Ascot dream. Neil Callan did give some insightful thoughts though, go back to a stiff 7 furlongs on a flatter track and he’s sure he’ll be winning races so we will draw a line through this race and look forward to seeing him back on a track in the new few weeks.
Sunday, at Chelmsford, it was the turn of Surrey Fire, who was a little disappointing on his seasonal reappearance, so we were hoping he would come on for that last run at Lingfield and he did look fitter in the parade ring which gave us cause for optimism. From a decent draw no one wanted to take the race on so David Egan settled Fire in the front, he settled nicely and enjoyed the front running experience. Turning for home he kicked on but he’s fairly one paced and got overhauled close to the line, finishing only a length back in 4th. It was an improvement on his last run, and we are sure he has a couple of wins in him but maybe not at the level we had hoped. He’ll step up in distance and we’ll look to find a couple of winnable races into the summer months.
Of the other horses, not too much to report. Sea Presenting has been out in a small paddock to make sure she doesn’t get too enthusiastic and start charging about but she’ll be moving and joining the other horses this week. Surrey Quest and Surrey Lord are enjoying themselves. Thank you to the owners for there thoughts and feedback on the season’s review, we will summarise them in an email this week and discuss with Toby when we meet with him in the next week or two.
The two-year-olds are all in various stages, with Surrey Moon likely to be the first runner of those. It was interesting to note in a recently published Hughie Morrison stable tour that Surrey King was in the ‘others to note’ category, and ‘will make a nice three-year-old’. His sire, Palace Pier, got off the mark this week with his first ever winner, hopefully more to come. We are looking forward to seeing Surrey Etoile later in the month, but we doubt he’ll be running until late summer. We are visiting Chantilly later in the month and will put a date in to visit the other two before they make their debuts.
Possible races and events.
June
Saturday 28th – Owners visit to Chantilly