June 8th Update

A relatively quiet week following the two runs the previous week.

Despite being bumped and kicked, Surrey Shadow has come out of his race well and is ready to go again. The handicapper dropped him a pound to 87 which doesn’t seem fair when he put him up 6 pounds for his 4th at Doncaster, but we still think he will be competitive off this mark. Neil Callan, after both the Doncaster and Sandown races, suggested that Tom should drop him back in trip to 7 furlongs which he feels would suit Shadow better, so Tom is looking at the slightly shorter distance and he has an entry at Newbury on Thursday. It’s a 7-furlong class 3 handicap, Neil is booked to ride again, with the race scheduled for 4.25. However, we would need the conditions to remain on the softer side, frustratingly, Newbury are anticipating a mixture of Good to Firm & Good ground for racing, with no plans to water, so if that’s correct then he won’t run. Options after that include Newmarket on the 26th and Doncaster on the 28th, both 7-furlong contests.      

Stable mate Surrey Moon is coming along nicely, growing in proportion, and now working on Side Hill at Newmarket, a left-handed mile gallop. He’s still not ready to do anything faster yet but he’s improving each week and starting to come to hand nicely.   

It's been tough trying to predict when the rain will come and we seemed to have missed this window for Surrey Fire. Hughie, in agreement with David Egan’s comments, wants to step him up in distance and look for races over 2 miles, with a potential race over 2 miles, 2 furlongs at Pontefract on Sunday 22nd or if the ground is too quick back to the all-weather for a 2-mile contest at Chelmsford on Tuesday 1st.  

Possible races and events.                          

June
Thursday 12th Surrey Shadow - Newbury
Sunday 22nd – Surrey Fire – Pontefract
Thursday 26th – Surrey Shadow – Newmarket
Saturday 28th – Surrey Shadow - Doncaster
Saturday 28th – Owners visit to Chantilly
July
Tuesday 1st – Surrey Fire - Chelmsford