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| Richard's
Blog
28th
May, 2010
Petroupetrov won well on his chasing debut at Kempton and hopefully he is still on a handicap mark he can win off again. Bobby Donald is in the same race as there are so few opportunities due to the ground. He definitely wasn't right last time and needs the trip having run and jumped so well early last season. Rapid Return has been off having had a wind operation and was due to run last week but for pulling a gluteal muscle. This race should bring him on but he would not want much rain. Whilst Mr Tingle is ready to run having been off with a broken bone at the top of his neck. Sounds like a hospital ward, that's racehorses for you.
Last night I attended Mark Pougatch's book launch in Chipping Norton at Jaffa & Neale book shop. The shop was independent book shop of the year last year and is an oasis of information run in a café environment. Pougatch is a great supporter of ours and it was nice to purchase a couple of copies of Three Lions, which consists of various England World Cup stories. He will soon be off to South Africa for the tournament and we will hear him on Radio 5, although prospects of England winning are pretty limited in my opinion. Pougatch's only fault is that he supports Arsenal, but I am sure the book will be a great read.
Now back from Hexham to see the horses in good fettle this morning on the gallops. The weather forecast changes like the wind - heavy rain and scattered showers and hopefully there will be some in time for the weekend for our runners. Would be good to be able to run Stop The Show at Cartmel as The Adlestrop Club are visiting on Monday.
Yesterday afternoon I had a visit from Geoff Lansbury and Jeff McCarthy. ‘The Geoffs' have been great supporters over the years and had Noble Lord with us. He was a real tough horse and gave us many a good day. Following a tour of the yard, we popped to Chipping Norton Golf Club for a quick round. On hearing the news, Gordon Clarkson suddenly got all his jobs done and joined us. Pleased to say Phillips hit the ball a long way on the back nine. Jeff McCarthy was playing with orange golf balls made in Taiwan and despite being the colour of Nick Clegg's tie, managed to lose several of them. Whilst Geoff Lansbury proved once gain that practice does not always make perfect. However it was great to catch up and thanks to Clarkson's last shot to the green, the game ended in a tie.
I set off early for Suzanne and Nigel Williams wedding in Hexham yesterday. Suzanne and Nigel shared their first racehorse with us in Eight Fifty Five and also Low Reactor. They are a great fun couple and we look forward to a lot of racing fun in the future together.
It was a pleasure to join in their celebration and in the evening we attended Hexham races. Hexham is a favourite racecourse to them both and I had not been there for many years. It is easily the most attractive racecourse in Britain and it is a glorious amphitheatre that comes highly recommended as visitors receive a warm welcome. We are looking forward to returning there with a few runners.
Not many to work this morning but those that did went very nicely. According to weather reports we will get heavy rain over the weekend, despite this being a Bank Holiday I look forward to this and hope the BBC are correct.
We have entered new recruit Saticon for Haydock on Saturday. Whether he goes there or not, he is a nice addition to the yard. Owned by long term owner and friend, Steven Smith, he finished third in the Fred Winter Juvenile at Cheltenham in 2009 and hopefully a change of scenery will do him good. He appears to like top of the ground and hopefully will provide some winning action this summer.
I saw trainer Micky Hammond at Hexham last night. He has been wearing shorts all winter for a charity bet and he has always been a character and good company. We were chatting last night about his old horse Valiant Warrior, who you may remember ran in the Grand National some years ago. Valiant Warrior was a real character and I rode him as a two year old at Henry Candys. I knew he would jump as when we trotted up the drive, he jumped every sleeping policeman. He could whip round quicker than Carl Llewellyn at the bar. He went on to a hurdling career with David Nicholson before being sold to Micky who won hurdles and chases with him. I am pleased to report his is alive and well and lives with a donkey at the age of 22. It makes me feel very old as I looked after his mother when I went to work for Henry Candy.
Saturday morning was a busy work morning with Gordon Clarkson riding three pieces of work in the heat, which is not a pretty sight. We had a visit from yard sponsors, Martin and Sue Harvey who saw their three year old Penshurst Lad, go through his paces. Whilst Warren came in to ride Ata Boy, who is a promising four year old we purchased at the December Breeze Up sale. Unfortunately with the heat wave, we have run out of time to run him but Warren is a good judge and was very pleased with his homework.
Saturday evening was AP McCoy's Grand National party. Some three hundred of us turned up to the McCoys for a fantastic evening wonderfully organised by wife, Chanelle. Mattie Batchelor entertained us with a poem about the ‘Champ' whilst the drink flowed. The food was varied and wonderful and I can exclusively report that both Venetia Williams and Sarah Hobbs were wearing French Connection.
As I was not drinking Saturday evening, it was a bright and breezy Sunday morning to welcome Colin Pocock, who has taken Captain Tidds and his young Oscar four year old home on their summer holidays. Whilst at lunchtime, Walid Marzouk, wife Paula and daughter Sarah, came to see their new purchases Amore Mio and Drussell. We celebrated their purchases with a glass of champagne and lunch at the Horse and Groom.
Last night Mel Fordham, owner and photographer extraordinaire, popped in on his way to Birmingham NEC to stay the night. Mel and I caught up on all the news at the Irish night at The Chequers at Churchill where thankfully the music was so loud, no one could hear me joining in.
Mondays are always busy mornings and the horses certainly enjoyed their wash down after exercise in the blazing heat. We managed to turn out more horses this morning and made a few entries for the weekend in the hope that the weather forecast is wrong.
Have discussed this morning, following the stories from the AP McCoy party that there should be National Hunt racing every day of the year as Irish jump jockeys cannot resist alcohol on a day off. Having said that some English ones are just as bad, thankfully Warren Marston did not drive home on Saturday night.
A very sunny morning in Adlestrop and the ground is now very firm. The horses enjoyed a wash down after exercise as descendents of Arabs, the horses like mornings like this morning.
It was a morning of more horses being turned out for their summer break whilst we have about twenty still in work. Many of the staff are taking their holidays as well which coincides nicely. Thankfully the grass is beginning to grow and the horses look good on it.
Following a busy morning, it was off to Birmingham NEC for my annual visit to the Gentlemens Night Out cheque presentation. For those of you that don't know, the Gentlemens Night Out is a great charity which supports many great causes in the Birmingham area and beyond. The committee is chaired by Go All Out's owner Arnie Kaplan who previously owned Scottish National winner Willsford with Jenny Pitman. Arnie is a remarkable character who hosts a thousand business men annually before Christmas for the ‘Gentlemens Night Out' where a quarter of a million pounds is raised in one evening.
The cheque presentation takes place at the NEC, when we see all the good causes the money goes to and it is a very enjoyable and moving experience. I was joined by owners David and Pauline Mason and Steve Benton. Whilst also in attendance for the first time was bloodstock agent Aiden Murphy. Arnie hosts the whole afternoon brilliantly and it is hard to think of anyone who could do it better as he puts even Bruce Forsyth to shame.
I returned from Doncaster sales last night. I came back with three new purchases. Amore Mio and Drussell were purchased on Tuesday and both have useful hurdle form and although not the biggest, hopefully they will be able to jump a fence as well as compete in handicap hurdles. They have been purchased for a new owner and I look forward to filling you in with details soon.
Yesterday I purchased a horse called Motou, a five year old unraced French bred who was not expensive but may well provide a bit of fun. As ever, the choice lots fetched enormous sums of money whilst anything with size and scope was very popular with all attending. The sales are always a good time to catch up with people and two of my favourite mentors, Mick Easterby and Harvey Smith were there. They are always great company. My favourite Harvey Smith story is when he bought himself an aeroplane and tried to teach himself to fly it. He got it into the air for fifty yards before crashing it at the bottom of his garden. Apparently it is still there and he will get around to mending it one day.
Next week is the Doncaster store sales, where over three hundred three and four year olds come up for auction. We were all agreeing that buying a young horse was a bit of a lottery, and have all decided to buy lot 321 and call it Ted Rogers.
Rapid Return did not run at Worcester last night as he has pulled a gluteal muscle and was not quite right. Hopefully he will go to Uttoxeter next week instead.
The rains continue to stay away and therefore a few of the horses have been put out on their summer holiday now that the grass is growing.
This morning we had visits from Tot Calver and Les Tomlin. Tot always provides flowers and smelly candles for the office, whilst Les who lives locally in Moreton, often pops in for a chat.
A busy weekend with Saturday being a work morning. Accompanied by many visitors including, Dave Mason, John Cantrill and Ian Dunbar. All worked well but it seemed pointless with the ground not easing in any way and it is going to be holiday time for a few horses soon I think.
To add to our multi cultural staff, we had Ali from Saudi Arabia riding out on Saturday morning. Ali is at Cambridge University and is thinking of becoming an amateur jockey. Our Pakistani groom Faisal, asked Whitey where he came from. “ Saudi Arabia ” was the reply. Faisal then said “we have people riding out here from all parts of the world, Pakistan , India , Ireland , Saudi Arabia and Swindon .” “ Swindon ?” said Whitey. “Yes, Christina is from Swindon ,” said Faisal. Whitey shook his head and said, “no she is from Sweden .” Faisal's head dropped as he knew the comment was heading for the blog.
Went racing Saturday evening to Uttoxeter. Pezula threw in the towel after one mistake and will now wear headgear, whilst Dickie Valentine showed more right wing tendencies than John Redwood. Melissa, who heads the Dickie Valentine syndicate required a lift home with her work mate, Tessa. Melissa has broken in a fair few horses for us and has been a great supporter of the yard and deserved a lift home despite it being out of my way.
It was a busy Sunday morning in the office, studying the Doncaster Sales catalogue. Garry and Trina Jones popped in to see Khumbu and Pak Jack. Unfortunately Khumbu has a recurrent leg problem and we are now looking for a good home for him. This was discussed over a very decent lunch at the Horse and Groom. Then it was off to Stratford to saddle The Snatcher in the novice hurdle. He jumped well but needs softer ground to be at his best and it was good to see owners Malcolm and Rachel Ablett there to discuss the way forward. I am sure he will win in handicap company with ease in the ground.
This morning, in amongst lots, there was more work to be done on the Doncaster catalogue and hopefully we can make a purchase or two this week.
Sad to hear the stallion Lucky Story died last week. He stood at the Tweenhill Stud in Hartpury, run by David Redvers. David and I share the mare, Soft Touch. Delighted to report that a full brother to Gentle Guru was born recently and Soft Touch has been covered this year by David's promising sire, Sleeping Indian. Gentle Guru herself has now been retired and has also been covered by Sleeping Indian. She has won us five races and been a model of consistency and we look forward to her passing on her spirit to her offspring.
We have declared three horses for the weekend. Dickie Valentine and Pezula at Uttoxeter tomorrow and The Snatcher at Stratford on Sunday. Hopefully Dickie Valentine will appreciate the better ground whilst Pezula should continue to progress following her step up in form at Bangor . The Snatcher makes his hurdling debut at Stratford in a hot contest but schooled nicely this morning with Sean Quinlan onboard.
A busy morning watching the horses work out on the gallops, was interspersed with lots of office work and studying the Doncaster May sales catalogue which takes place next week.
Last night Roger Skan, La Landiere's owner invited me to a sporting dinner at Stratford . I have been lucky enough to have been invited to one of these in the past. It is always an enjoyable evening and is hosted by ex England International rugby player, David Duckham, a great friend of Roger. David is a top man who I have known for many years and we are looking forward to him visiting Adlestrop soon. Last night's speaker was Phil Tufnell who is another great guy and always good fun. (Sorry Blackie that I meet so many famous people).
Tuffers and I were discussing the size of Dunwoody's hands and both agreed he would be better off dancing on them than his feet. In a question and answer session, Tuffers was asked what the worst bit of sledging that he had ever come across. The answer was a certain Aussie slip catcher, who in between balls said “hey Tufnell, I am building an idiot, any chance of using your brain?”
Following a busy work morning and a number of entries made for Towcester, it was off to lunch with the Hursts .
Thursday morning we had a visit from Rachel Ablett, owner of The Snatcher. The Sntacher has come to us from Richard Hannon and will hopefully make his hurdling debut at Stratford on Sunday. Obviously it was off to lunch after this to the Chequers at Churchill, where the wonderful Assumpta looked after us well.
We were also joined by owners Les and Linda Tomlin, Rick Allen and inevitably Barnsy. Barnsy said he wasn't hungry so he had potato and leek soup, a rib eye steak and failed to have the crumble. We have entered several horses for Worcester next week including Pak Jack over hurdles. He was entered at Aintree tomorrow but he does need a bit of juice in the ground these days.
We have also entered a new horse that has come to us from Brian Murphy in Ireland called Just Benny. He is owned by Richard styles and Stuart Prior who are connected with Temoin. He is an attractive son of Beneficial and hopefully will show some promise. Nice to see more women in the cabinet with Chris Huhn's appointment.
On the election front, nice to see David Cameron did need double glazing and has gone into government with Nick Clegg. Interesting times ahead. I am sure Hilary Clinton will be taken by William Hague's cute accent on his arrival in Washington . How appropriate that ‘terrorist' May is home secretary.
On the way in between my hectic phone calls, I was forced by Clarkson to listen to Pop Master on Radio 2. As a team, we did rather well and it is fair to say that I stunned him with one answer which embarrassingly was, ‘Danni Minogue.'
It has been a busy time in the office this afternoon catching up after our Ireland trip. Pleased to report that during work, I am watching goldfinches on our niger seed whilst Sky News is on in the background and hopefully if the news is correct, that Brown has gone and that Cameron is going into government with a double glazing salesman.
Yesterday afternoon, I was luckily enough to be invited by one of our owners Chris Newport to the Tottenham Hotspur Golf day. Like many of my owners I have been a Tottenham fan since childhood, as is Chris. We were joined yesterday by his son Charlie, aged 13 who has a swing to die for. Each team had a member from Tottenham Hotspur and I couldn't believe my luck with Ricky Villa was my partner. If you don't know, Ricky scored the greatest goal ever in the 1981 FA Cup Final replay against Man City . He was absolutely charming and fantastic company and luckily our team came third and we were presented with a trophy by none other than Ozzie Ardiles. I could not have had a better day.
I had a busy weekend in Ireland looking at horses. Hopefully we will have news of a recent purchase in the next few days. It is the time of year to move on and try and raise the quality of the string for the coming season and hopefully there is a lot of activity on that front. Obviously Ireland has been a great source of purchasing for us over the years. We have lots of contacts, including Gerry Hogan whose wedding I attended on Friday.
Gerry was a former jockey with David Nicholson and rode for us a few times in the early days. He has since turned his hand to being a very successful bloodstock agent and has bought us many good horses over the years.
His marriage to Ciara is a match made in heaven and the location of their wedding was a very close second. Inchydoney beach near Cork , is a wonderful part of the world and I highly recommend it to those who have yet to visit.
Attending the wedding were many of Ireland 's great and good, including Ted and Katie Walsh and many trainers and bloodstock boys from the Emerald Isle.
Gerry told what Ted Walsh described as his favourite story, about the time when he first started working for David Nicholson. The Duke and his jockeys would often travel to the races together and on this occasion it was the first time Gerry had travelled with his boss. In the back of the car with Gerry was Warren Marston - always a sign of trouble. Before he entered the car Gerry asked Warren if it was alright if he smoked in the car. Warren said it was no problem, knowing the Duke hated smoking.
After a few miles down the road, Gerry lit up and on his first breath, blew a cloud of smoke between the seats into the airway of the Duke. The Duke whipped round quicker than a pony in a Shetland Grand National, lambasting Hogan for his misdemeanour. Gerry near enough swallowed the cigarette and the journey continued.
Like quite a few Irish jockeys, Gerry liked to have a kip in the car on the way to the races. After a few minutes, Gerry's eyes started to close. At this point, Warren Marston dug his elbow into the side of Gerry and said, “the boss has just asked you where you rode yesterday.” Warren had completely made this up and the Duke had not said a word. Gerry, keen to please his boss, stuck his head between the front car seats and said, “Wincanton.” Gerry then proceeded to sit back in his seat and after a few minutes again fell asleep. Not long after this, Warren elbowed Gerry again. “The boss has asked what the ground was like yesterday,” said Marston. Quick as a flash, Gerry raised his head between the car seats again and said, “good to firm governor,” and proceeded to sit back in his seat again.
This procedure went on for several occasions and after the fourth time, The Duke moved his rear view mirror so he could see Marston in the back, put his index finger to his temple and whirled it round, indicating to Marston that young Hogan must be a nutcase.
It was some time later before Marston admitted to Hogan what he had done and unbelievably he forgave him. Understandably, once the Duke found out what had happened, he loved it.
Thursday is an easy day for the horses following their work morning. Giovanna has been declared for Aintree tomorrow. This is a race that she won last year but unfortunately she has more weight on her back this time. Hopefully the good ground and course and distance will help, with Sean Quinlan onboard taking three pounds off.
The staff have yet to vote today, as we have been busy. However we are all off to Oddington Village Hall to put in our Cameron cross. Apart from Whitey who wants to vote for David Attenborough, who unfortunately is not standing this year, so the green party will probably get it.
Off to Ireland tonight to see some horses and attend Gerry Hogan's wedding, our Irish bloodstock agent. Look forward to filling you in on my return. However if Gordon Brown wins, I will not be back.
My
secretary Jo, is providing the yard with a Cheltenham runner
on July 4th by taking part in the Race For Life five kilometre
run at the racecourse. In aid of Cancer Research, If anyone
feels kind enough to sponsor her, her online sponsorship page
is:
Work morning this morning and all went to plan. We had Warren in to sit on a youngster and he was pleased, which is not always the case.
Charles Allan came to see his five year old, Upper Deck work. Whilst Melissa Chesterman who breaks horses in for us and is part of the Fairford Goes Racing partnership, came to see Dickie Valentine go through his paces.
Third lot we had a visit from Charles Allan's friend, Marcos Ayerza and his wife Mercedes. Marcos plays rugby for the Leicester Tigers and is an Argentinean National rugby player. He breeds horses in Argentina and experienced for the first time a racing yard in this country. Obviously this was followed by lunch.
Pleased to report that Faisal, our best and only Pakistani groom who got caught out with the passport trick at Chepstow recently, landed Indian friend Nepal with the same dilemma. It goes without saying that Gordon Clarkson was obviously involved and he told Faisal to tell Nepal that he needed a passport to get to Chepstow races as he was going to another country. Once again the man on the bridge found the incident very amusing, unlike Nepal.
A busy weekend as ever with lots of visitors on Saturday morning including the Harveys . Amongst the visitors was someone who worked in IT for a large insurance company and soon he and our sponsor Martin, were reminiscing about all their mutual acquaintances. This delighted Martin as he is looking for a return on his investment of sponsoring the yard and our visitor left with a Tori Global information pack, much to Harvey 's delight.
I watched the 2000 Guineas and was glad I wasn't Marcus Tregoning.
Following a morning in the office on Sunday, the Harveys invited me to a barbeque at their country retreat in Blockley. Later it was off to Evensong at Adlestrop Church , where the Bishop of Gloucester blessed the cushions that many of our owners had donated to the church. We were pleased to see a few of our owners turn up to see their trainer read. As the Reverend Richard Rendall said, if only my horses could go as fast as I read, we would have more winners. It was then down to The Fox at Oddington with the Masons and Dunbars, who feeling holier than thou, kindly bought me supper.
Bank Holiday Monday saw a visit from Pak Jack's main owner Helen Nixseaman along with David and Ellie Simons. Then it was off to lunch at the Horse and Groom before heading to Chepstow, to see Eastwell Smiles run a respectable fourth in the two mile handicap under the new ownership of Sue Harvey.
This morning, long time supporter and owner Rob Hill who has shares in Giovanna and Mr Tingle, came to watch Giovanna school. Then it was off to John Suthern's to meet John Cantrill, Ian Dunbar and David Mason to visit their horses that are turned out. Obviously by then it was lunch time and I was treated to faggots by David Mason.
On the way back, I just had time for a hair cut. This was ruined by the presence of Barnsy who came in half way through and proceeded to annoy the barber so much, that I look even more like Michael McIntyre now.
Thanks to Jan Hurst for sending me that text this morning telling me what ‘bigot' stands for., ‘Brown is going on Thursday.' Let's hope so.
Forgot to mention last week the latest staff comment. Again the identity of the staff member will not be released. However Gordon and Whitey were riding out recently, when a certain member of staff asked Gordon “what is that grass there called?” Gordon replied, “that is clover.” Quick as a flash the reply came, “ooh let's have a look to see if there are any three leaf ones!” Once again, apologies to Hannah.
The Adlestrop Village Open day this year is on Sunday 20 th June from midday – 5pm. Please do come along if you can and see our wonderful village at its best. Once again this year, we are holding a FUN DOG SHOW in the paddock at the stables. Jilly Cooper has kindly agreed to be our judge so please bring your dog along. If you would be interested in sponsoring a class in the show, please let us know as soon as possible. The cost is £25 to cover rosettes, prizes and charity donation. The first class will start at 1pm and they will be as follows:
Entry is £1 per dog per class and there will be rosettes and edible prizes (for the dogs) for the first three in each class. Entry to the village open day is £4 per person. For further information, please contact us.
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