February 22nd Update
Steve and I went to see Surrey King last Monday and even managed to avoid the rain! King is looking great, he’s probably now reached his full growth potential, he is slim though and looks more like a stayer than a miler, which we felt that would be where he would end up racing. He hasn’t had a tough time over the winter and is still only doing two canters a day without being pushed to do fast work, He has been wearing a hood in training to keep him calm which does seem to be working and could possibly be used when he races. The work will build up over the coming weeks as he nears his seasonal debut which will most likely be on a galloping turf track, over a mile and a quarter in April. As you are aware he didn’t like the stalls at Newbury – or the horsebox, which he shies away from when he sees it at the yard. To rectify that King has been having a lot of stalls practice (some days better than others!) and hopefully by mid to late March he’ll be ready for the stall test. Hughie and the team will take him out on short trips around East Ilsley in the horsebox to get used to travelling, we feel with maturity and King realising that travelling is routine then everything else should fall into place. We will have an owner’s morning to see him in action on Saturday March 21st and see what the plans are for the season ahead, working back from the German Derby in July.
Regarding the other flat horses , Surrey Bolt has another week or so at the Callan’s while Surrey Moon is building up to an April debut. In all the hubbub of Constitution Hill’s run on Friday, it may have gone unnoticed, but it was great to see that Tom had a Group 2 winner that same evening in Meydan.
You may have seen the video of Surrey Etoile on the WhatsApp; he’s doing remarkably considering what a bad injury he had. His recovery is going as well as we could have hoped, he remains in great spirits, apparently, he’s keeping the staff on their toes when they enter his box! Etoile is now over the worse in terms of post-surgery issues so there is no reason why he wont make a full recovery. The length of hand walking will grow over the next 6 weeks, he’ll have a first clinical check mid-March, and early April he will go out into a small paddock. If all is well then back to gentle exercise sometime after his second clinical examination in May. The big question though is whether he will return to race, and the honest answer is we don’t know at this stage. Both vets who have treated him are cautiously optimistic and he is being treated with the aim to return to racing, we’ll know more in the Spring.
The ground has thwarted the return of Surrey Lord, so he won’t be running at Newbury at the weekend. The next viable target is a 0-145 handicap hurdle over 2m 5f at Kempton on March 14th so hopefully the rain stops and the ground starts to dry out. There is also a suitable race for Surrey Quest on the same card, a 0-130 handicap chase over 3 miles although for Quest we really do want better ground, there are other options for him in later March at Newbury (21st) and Kempton (23rd).
Thanks to all of those who responded expressing their interest in a NH horse to be trained by Toby. We have had over 15 positive responses which is enough for us to discuss buying options with Toby and Clare so we have arranged a dinner with them early March and will update you in the newsletter in two weeks’ time.
Have a super week ahead
Possible races and events.
March
Saturday 14th – Surrey Lord, Surrey Quest – Kempton
Saturday 21st – Owners visit to see Surrey King
May
Wednesday 20th – Surrey Racing Golf Day – Silvermere GC
July
Sunday 5th – Surrey King - Hamburg