A Winning End to 2025 !
Surrey Lord was our last runner of the year. it was a fantastic way to cap an awful week and add a little bit of festive cheer to everyone, especially all those at Toby’s who were affected by Sea Presenting’s fatal injury.
We strive to have runners at the big meetings, it’s what every owner wants, great atmosphere from the big crowds, media attention, a great card of racing, better prize money, and a fighting chance to be in with a shout of making it into the winner’s enclosure. Boxing Day at Kempton is one of those days that is synonymous with racing, a day in the calendar that everyone is aware of and after some fantastic performances from the likes of Willie Mullin’s Kitzbuhel and Harry Redknapp’s The Jukebox Man it was our chance to shine on the big stage.
Surrey Lord, in the words of the Sporting Life was an ‘early eye catcher, a big strong gelding, very fit’ in the parade ring and we hoped he could take the step up in class, but we weren’t sure, it was a bit of a punt that was discussed, pondered and debated for a few days beforehand. Riding Lord is a battle, and it looked the same again for Kevin, especially over the 2nd fence where Kevin saw a good stride, but Lord wasn’t having any of it. It was a mile into the contest until Lord finally conceded the battle with the jockey and decided he wanted to play a part in the contest, but when he buckled down he looked a class above the others and turning into the home straight there was only going to be one winner, but even so, the turn of foot was very impressive and surely there is more to come? Surrey Lord’s last 5 furlongs were run at an average of 13.02 per furlong which is quick, Sir Gino, winner of the earlier Grade 1 (carrying more weight but ran 5 furlongs less) ran his last 5 furlongs at an average of 13.06 !
Owners occasionally ask where they can watch the replay, all races are shown on At The Races or Racing TV 15 minutes after the race, but I find that for any race at a Jockey Club track is best watched on the jockey club website, there’s more detail in their replays. Anyhow, for those that missed it, Toby’s interview afterwards was also shown on RTV - https://www.racingtv.com/watch/on-demand/interviews/1073705
Lord was fine yesterday and full of beans, however after 5 runs already this season we won’t rush him back out. The handicapper will have his say (7-8 lbs ?) and then we can look at potential races towards the end of January even early into February.
Our 6th win of 2025 was Lords 3rd win of the season, which seals the SR Horse of the Year award - that was our 6th win at Kempton, equalling Newbury as a most winning track, Kevin’s 3rd winner in yellow and blue and our 5th win with Toby (from 26 runs).
In other news, Surrey Quest had a successful wind op and is back on the gallops, with Kevin schooling him over the bigger fences. He’s taken that well and plans are on course for the Surrey National at Lingfield later in January
No new news on Surrey King but news from the yard, Charlie has left Hughie’s to take up a role in Melbourne with Anthony and Sam Freedman, congratulations to him, we wish him well.
We have received positive trainer updates on Surrey Etoile, Surrey Moon, and Surrey Bolt.
Tim feels that Surrey Etoile has hit his growth peak and levelling off. He’s been working much better over the past few weeks and will continue to have faster gallops once a week through the colder months. He’s starting to look more like the finished article and with a good winter he’ll start on the turf in the Spring in an unraced maiden. Surrey Moon has been improving each week in his training. He’s a lovely sized horse who is now up to half speed training which is slightly behind where Surrey Etoile is but certainly on course for a debut early spring.
Surrey Bolt is doing routine canters, starting with a 4 furlong warm ups and then onto Bury Hill’s grass gallop which is a flat right-handed 6-furlong gallop. Tom says he’s very strong with a lot of natural strength, very compact, which is great for a horse for this early in his career and Tom is very happy with his progress. His training will be stepped up in the New Year, and we look forward to seeing him and Surrey Moon later in January.
In other racing news, the Champion Sire of 2025 was Night of Thunder, helped by the return at five of Ombudsman, who did more than any other to propel Night Of Thunder to this maiden championship, earning just shy of £1.9 million with victories in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International, as well as runner-up efforts in the G1 Coral-Eclipse and G1 Champion Stakes. Night of Thunder once stood for a fee of just £15,000 when briefly based at Dalham Hall in 2018 and 2019, now though his fee for this coming year at Kildangan Stud is a whopping £200,000.
The Surrey Racing 2025 review is in next week’s update – until then we’d like to wish you a very Happy New Year and hoping for a healthy and winning 2026.
Possible races and events.
January
Monday 19th – Surrey Quest – Lingfield
Saturday 24th – Owners visit to see Surrey Moon and Surrey Bolt
July
Sunday 5th – Surrey King - Hamburg