Cheltenham Week update

Another quiet week for us, but the coming week looks set to be pivotal for the season ahead — and that’s after enjoying/enduring Cheltenham!

However, if you are heading to Cheltenham, owners Ian and Mandy will be serving drinks from the back of their car before racing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday – head to car park C2. Also, Nicky is running her usual tipping competition, good value at only £20 an entry and a prize pool of over £2k – it’s a far cheaper way to lose money! Contact us to join - Good luck and best wishes to those heading to the Cotswolds.

This week we have a lot going on in terms of horse welfare and plans, starting with Surrey Lord. We had been planning to run him on Saturday at Kempton, however, Lord strained a muscle last week and although the injury isn’t serious he’s not quite 100% and we’d want to go into these races with every chance. It will set him back 2-3 weeks so we will look for another race for him towards the end of the month instead. 

If the ground has dried out sufficiently (heavy rain forecast for Friday) then Surrey Quest could run on Saturday at Kempton, in the 4.28pm – a Class 3 (0–130) handicap over 3 miles. Quest is very well in himself, but we do still have concerns about his breathing, which has hindered him on softer ground. Ideally, we’d like to see how his breathing is affected on better ground, so if Kempton hasn’t dried out enough, we will wait until later in the month, with options at Newbury (21st) and Kempton (23rd). We aren’t entirely sure how Quest will be, and we do have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that his next race could be his last – fingers crossed.  

We have given Toby the go ahead to find a new NH horse and have corresponded with those that are interested. Toby feels it would be best to purchase a horse that has already shown some point-to-point form. Ireland offers the largest pool to choose from, although we would also consider horses with UK and French PtP form. As the horse would already have run, it should be ready to start racing at the beginning of the new season in October. To stay within budget, it’s unlikely we would be looking at a point-to-point winner, as those tend to sell for £150,000 and upwards. Instead, the aim would be to find a horse that has demonstrated ability and competitiveness — something Toby feels he can develop further. He believes that slower-developing five-year-olds can represent better value than younger, unexposed three- or four-year-olds. Ideally, we would prefer a mare, given the strength of the mares’ programme here, but we won’t restrict ourselves unnecessarily. Ultimately, we’ll focus on finding the right horse with the potential to compete on Saturdays — provided the price is right.   

Surrey Bolt has been seen by the vet this week, who indicated that the injury is healing well and has given the go-ahead for Bolt to return to the gallops by the end of the month, which is great news. Stablemate Surrey Moon did his first piece of faster work this week on the famed Al Bahathri gallop. He was a little green but did knuckle down and picked up nicely as the gallop progressed. He’ll continue with the faster work and is very much on track for his debut in April. 

Surrey King has been working well, with trips around town in the horsebox and plenty of stalls practice. Hughie has been pleased with his progress but feels he still needs more time before a stalls test and a return to racing.  With the German Derby in mind, King really needs to run in the next six weeks, otherwise he won’t be ready to make the long trip to Hamburg. We are also conscious that we are paying monthly entry fees for the race, with March’s payment of €1,550 due on the 16th. We don’t want to pay that if he’s unlikely to be ready, so it’s an important week before we sit down with Hughie at the weekend and make a call. 

Surrey Etoile has an appointment this week with the radiographer to check how well his leg has been healing, and we’re keenly awaiting that report as it will give us a clearer prognosis for the next couple of months. He is being hand-walked daily now and, so far, so good — but this report should give us a better idea of what lies ahead. 

Good luck to Surrey Quest if he runs on Saturday, and good luck to those playing Nicky’s tipping competition! 

Possible races and events.                         

March
Saturday 14th – Surrey Quest – Kempton 4.28pm
Saturday 21st – Owners visit to see Surrey King
May
Wednesday 20th – Surrey Racing Golf Day – Silvermere GC (6 places remaining – shout for details).
July
Sunday 5th – Surrey King - Hamburg