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Richard's Blog
The sun continues to shine in Adlestrop and this morning we schooled a number of the horses. Using our outdoor school and some strategically designed show jumps, we were able to get most of the string off the ground. Zack Davidson and Shane O'Keefe did the honours and we are looking forward to some rain so we can get them on the schooling ground.
Last night I was invited by Tot Calver to The Manfreds at Cheltenham Town Hall . Tot bought me the ticket for my birthday. We were accompanied by Tot's sister Penelope, Dinah Nicholson and Brian and Libby Fanshawe, parents of James. If you have not seen the band they are quite brilliant and despite being nearly seventy, can still belt out some great songs. Included was one of my favourites, Handbags And Gladrags written by Mike D'Abo who performed a great version last night.
It is my secretary's birthday today and the staff sang to her second lot. I must admit the Indian version of ‘happy birthday' is not quite what you would expect and I can safely say that Nepal would make Wagner sound like Pavarotti.
Off to Warwick today to saddle Fair Breeze in the 5.45pm, with the same conditions she had when she won previously. Let's hope young Jack Sherwood can get a tune out of her today and she is our horse in focus today.
Fair Breeze was bred by myself and Tweenhill Stud. She is out of our mare Soft Touch who won over hurdles for us. Thanks to Fair Breeze's victory at Warwick recently, all five of Soft Touch's foals have now won, including Gentle Guru who won five times for us.
Fair Breeze appreciated the step up in trip and the firmer ground when winning at Warwick . As a youngster she suffered with sore shins but these appear to have settled down in her old age. She is owned by Ian Brown who has had many good horses with us in the past including listed winner Averted View, Gentle Guru and Exile.
The clement weather doesn't help the ground and there will have to be a fair bit of rain before we get them on the turf but it will come eventually otherwise we would be living in Somalia.
Owner Bob Johnston popped in late morning having been to Paul Webbers for a morning riding Time For Rupert. Bob bought this at the Heythrop hunt auction last year and turned up with laminated photographs to prove it. Having seen the photos, I think Will Kennedy's job is safe as thanks to Bob's arthritic knees, he rides more like ‘ Nan ' Kennedy (remember her)!
Today's horse in focus is Excelsior Academy . Rated 82 on the flat with Brian Meehan, he has shown excellent flat form with cut in the ground. Costing 400,000 guineas as a yearling, this son of Montjeu was a very consistent flat horse and looks just the type to take to hurdling.
Having strengthened up since being with us, he will run in his first novice hurdle sometime in November and will hopefully be aimed at one of the big novice hurdles at the end of the season over two and a half miles. This exciting prospect is for sale and details can be found on our ‘horses for sale' page.
Yet another wonderful day in Adlestrop. September mornings are very special in the Cotswolds and the horses continue to be in good nick. Owner Tot Calver has done a wonderful job on our flower beds in the V yard this morning.
We also had a visit from Gordon Clarkson who is in very jolly form now he doesn't have to ride a racehorse anymore. Now an SIS commentator, he is relaxing before his big day on Friday when he marries Jemima.
I went to Moreton in Marsh last night with Sue Harvey and Mick Barnes. Barnsy would like to point out that he paid (for once). We were planning our Adlestrop Club Christmas event which is a change from our usual ‘Stroll On the Wold' to ‘Moreton On The March.' It should be a good evening in prospect.
Still laughing about Saturday's wedding of Mr and Mrs Caulfield. Richard Curtis could not have done a better job. Marcus Armytage forgot his suit but did look fetching in his khaki jeans. The highlight of the day was undoubted the song we sang as the couple left the church. Morecambe and Wise ‘Bring Me Sunshine' has always been a favourite of ours and a hundred and sixty people singing it in a chapel, certainly adds humour to the whole event.
Today's horse in focus is Crystal Swing who certainly looks a horse to follow. Second in his only race in a Leopardstown bumper, he showed immense promise to finish second to Ireland 's leading bumper horse of last season, Waaheb.
Standing
16.2hh, this handsome son of Trade Fair has a flat pedigree
but looks every inch a chaser in the making. He will start in
a bumper this autumn before beginning a hurdling career. He
works very nicely and is owned by a syndicate that include some
members of the Pak Jack Partnership along with our sponsors
Sue and Martin Harvey.
We are making entries for the weekend including Tiger Line, Upper Deck and Father Martin. With a dry week forecast, this should suit them and it will be interesting to see if Tiger Line can follow up on her Newton Abbot victory.
I spent Friday in Jersey with owner Bunny Roberts at the Animal Health Trust golf day. It is always a great event and it is good to support such a worthy cause.
Saturday was an event we thought we would never see with the wedding of Michael Caulfield. As predicted it was a momentous affair of great friends that go back some thirty years. It has taken him fifty years to find ‘Miss Right' and he is a lucky man thanks to the patience of Alison Smith. Alison is a proper Yorkshire hunting girl. With a free bar, much to the disappointment of the groom, the party went late into the evening and special mention should be made of the brilliant band, The Wickermen. If you have not heard them, book them now. The speeches were a big hit with all the guests and I narrowly missed out on collecting the money as I was only two minutes away from predicting their length.
A beautiful morning in Adlestrop with visitors Brian Duckett, Anne and Peter Hepworth and Gill Hawkins. It was an easy day for most of the string following a work morning yesterday. Thanks to the sun their coats are still shining but with the autumnal feeling in the air, they will soon be changing.
We schooled Sun Up over poles. She should jump a steeplechase fence one day and she is for sale or lease and ready to run.
Laughing this morning about Robert Cooper's golf shot on Tuesday. He ended up on the wrong fairway and hit Bob Scott's ball which was some twenty yards away, causing both balls to shoot off in opposite directions. A billion to one chance and only Cooper could come up with that. Shame it was not televised.
I was very sad to hear of the deaths of Ginger McCain and Michael Jarvis. Ginger was a very funny man and we had lots of laughs together and I will never forget him presenting me with the trainers prize when Dark ‘n Sharp won the Red Rum Chase.
Michael
Jarvis was always a gentleman and if I had to pick out one trainer
that people admire the most, and yes above Cecil and Stoute,
it was he. He certainly made the most of his opportunities.
A busy work morning with lots of visitors including Colin Pocock, Nick Roberts, Tot Calver and her racing managers Geoffrey Howson and Matthew Houldsworth. Later in the morning Camilla Murdoch came to see her string in action and all are pleased with both staff and horses looking focused.
The individual prize was once again won by brian Kay who will have to again get the ‘Richard Phillips Birthday Classic' trophy engraved.
The day was sponsored by Starr Sports and representatives Luke and Alex did not do much persuading in getting our owners to open an account, thanks to a £50 free bet.
Nearest the pin was won by Neil Gladding of Oxford Wine Company and the longest drive was won by Joe Jenkins. Each won a £100 free bet with Starr Sports who are pretty safe, as Joe wanted to put it on Wales to win the rugby world cup.
Today's horse in focus is Bright Light. She is a homebred four year old of Sue Welch's. She is a tough, strong daughter of Exit To Nowhere from one of Sue's winning families. She is at present doing some cantering upsides and looks the type to run in bumpers sometime in November. It is too early to say how much talent she has but she appears to have the size and scope to go hurdling and chasing later in her career.
Upper Deck was travelling very well with Choc Thornton onboard yesterday but just stayed on at one pace in the straight. We will apply a tongue strap next time and see if this helps his cause. If it does, Choc is confident we can get a win out of him.
We stepped up the work with the string on Saturday morning and all are pleasing at present. Amongst the owners attending were Martin and Sue Harvey who saw their promising bumper horse Crystal Swing go through his paces.
On Friday night I had a very enjoyable dinner at Kirsten Loyd's near Wantage. It was a meeting of the old team from the Old Berks hunt and guests included the Deals, the Lewintons, the Jones and fellow Tottenham fan, Rhydian Morgan-Jones. My partner for the evening was Jenny Trier, better known to us as ‘Aunty Jen' and all were involved with our smart two mile chaser, Time Won't Wait many years ago and it was great to toast the old boy.
Saturday night was the Heros Ball at North Farm Stud, again near Wantage. Grace Muir and her team did a superb job as did the host of the evening Bobby Davro, who is not only amusing but a good man with it.
Today's horse is Bold Identity. He was purchased at the Doncaster May sales last year after showing promise on the flat in Ireland. He made a very pleasing debut over hurdles at Taunton last season but the ground firmed up for him so we gave him a run on the flat. Richard Hughes liked him and I am sure there is a flat race in him. He has grown and strengthened over the summer and looks a very promising hurdler and chaser in the making. He will be making his seasonal debut over hurdles in October and will get two and half miles and prefers a bit of cut in the ground.
We have declared Upper Deck for Sunday with Choc Thornton onboard. Hopefully Choc will suit him and he schooled well this morning under our new young protégé from the British Racing School , Zack Davidson. Zack has had a lot of experience cross country riding and hunting and lucky for Zack, under my tutorage he is becoming a good schooling jockey.
Last night we helped out Allertons who provide many of the racing colours and rugs on the racecourse, with a photo shoot in the yard. Ata Boy and Rich Buddy made perfect models and would love to be on the catwalk in another life. Sean Quinlan was also asked to pose for the photos and this is certainly a subject he knows a lot about.
Today's horse in focus is Amore Mio who needs soft ground and a trip to be shown at his best. Now that he has learned to settle in his races, he should be competitive off his handicap mark and showed that he still retains ability by running very well at Hereford and Perth for us last season. He takes a few races to get into gear but I am sure once the soft ground comes he should be back on the winning trail and adding to our seasons total.
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Yesterday
was our annual golf day at Chipping Norton Golf Club. Pleased
to say the team captained by myself with Bob Scott, Colin Pocock
and Andrew Nicholls annihilated the opposition with a consistent
display all afternoon. With Phillips at his motivational best,
there was lots of high fiving.  | |
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