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Richard's
Blog
Easy morning for the horses today following yesterday's work morning. For the first time in a long time, I will admit to having lunch today. Colin Smith and Roger Skan both turned up for a trip down memory lane at The Horse and Groom in Upper Oddington .
Colin, you will remember once owned Jackdaws Castle and many good horses, his first being Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Charter Party. Roger owned La Landiere with us, who of course gave him and Adlestrop Stables a Festival winner in 2003.
It is always good to catch up and hopefully I have persuaded both of them that they can have another winner at the Cheltenham Festival soon.
Thankfully there has been some rain at Chepstow and we look like having some runners there on Saturday. Hopefully there will be some safe ground at Uttoxeter as well.
Today Pricewise has tipped Roderic O'Connor each way in the 2000 Guineas . He is in my horses to follow list this year as I believe he is great value to the odds on favourite Frankel. I do hope Frankel wins the Guineas but I am cynical these days and he looks a bit too good to be true to me. He was a very well developed two year old and sometimes three year olds catch up with them. Hope I'm wrong.
An interesting work morning in preparation for some hopeful runners over the weekend. Pleased to see some rain, may it continue.
I was kindly invited to The Grosvenor last to attend the Betview Awards. These are awards for the betting industry and were presented by Claire Balding. Claire was as professional as ever and we were also entertained by a singing group, Swingle and four women with violins and a cello called Siren. All very entertaining. I was invited by Sky Business who are a very enterprising group of people who will hopefully be persuaded that racehorse ownership is a way forward.
Happy birthday to Mick Easterby who is 80 today. Mick is one of my favourite characters who I often see at the sales. One of his favourite sayings is “I don't buy horses, I steal them.” A man who owns half of Yorkshire but dresses as though he owns half a wardrobe.
This morning we had a visit from some members of the Cheltenham and Three Counties Racing Club who were lucky enough to win a morning on the gallops at their Cheltenham Preview evening.
It is always a pleasure to show people around Adlestrop on a morning like this morning and as they rightly commented, the horses looked very well. With lots of entries at the weekend we are hoping the rains are on the way. With the number of entries at the weekend I think everyone else is looking for rain as well and wherever there is decent ground, it will be competitive.
Interesting to read that the tariffs for top races have been scrapped. To some trainers, each opportunity to win is a top race.
A busy weekend as ever. On Saturday I supported Grace Muir's rehabilitation of racehorses charity, Heros at Lingfield Park - along with Martin and Sue Harvey our sponsors. As a patron of the charity, I am always pleased to help such a good cause.
In the evening, I was kindly invited to a charity event in aid of Marie Curie at Shipston on Stour . ‘Roger and Dave' are two hysterically funny old boys who in a Flanders and Swann style, sing funny politically incorrect songs interspersed with amusing anecdotes. This sort of humour is right up my street.
Sunday is often a catch up day in the office planning the weeks ahead and if only it would rain I am sure there are some winners to be had. Let us hope it pours.
We have made lots of entries for the weekend and as long as the ground is safe, we will have a few runners.
You will be pleased to know that Barnsy has found his cod. For regular followers of the blog, you will remember that he lost this fish some weeks ago. He found it in his passage on top of a bag of potatoes and it is amazing that he has only just smelt it.
Congratulations to Choc Thornton on riding his 1000 th winner this afternoon at Towcester. A great achievement and a great bloke.
Off to Newbury with Darby's Turn today. It will be interesting to see how he copes with the step up in trip. Another wonderful sunny day, which is great for racehorses that don't want soft ground. Think of all those lovely flat horses losing their coats and thinking summer is on the way. It really is a good time of year for nature to be seen to work.
Thompson ran well yesterday at Southwell. Jumping and travelling well he got squeezed turning for home but stayed on again and was fourth. Hopefully the patience of his owners, the Hawleys will be repaid soon. I brought back Mick Barnes and Paddy Brennan from Southwell, which is always an experience to behold. I am sure they are the only two people that understand each other.
Interesting to see Richard Hannon supporting the tariffs, along with Godolphin. I think their support will make a big difference and let us hope racecourses see a way of putting their picture rights money back into prize money soon.
Hopefully Wigmore Hall will run well tomorrow night in Dubai . He is owned by Mark Hawtin who has a share in Phardessa and Petroupetrov. Despite a bad draw, I am told Twice Over is in great form for the World Cup.
The Racing Post today has an article about the flat jockeys championship. Barring injury, Ryan Moore is a certainty as he is young enough and focussed enough to go the pace and 5-4 is buying money. Ryan is a lucky man, he has the determination of his father but the looks of his mother.
Darby's Turn has been declared at Newbury tomorrow. We are trying three miles for the first time as it appeared at Chepstow the other day that he needed to be stepped up in trip. Hopefully the ground will be watered well at Newbury.
A beautiful day in Adlestrop this morning and spring is in the air, just wish some rain was as well.
The Racing Post this week is turning its attention to the flat season with the Dubai World Cup taking place on Saturday. For many years I used to go to this event. It is always a very glamorous occasion and before I visited I used to think it was possibly Sheikh Mohammad's fairground. However my mind changed when I was fortunate enough to stand at the back of the stands at Nad Al Sheba the night Dubai Millennium won. Stood among the locals, the horse burst out the stalls, ran away with Frankie Dettori and accelerated up the straight to win in breathtaking style. It suddenly dawned I me that what I had witnessed was something completely natural – a descendant of an arab racehorse running around the desert at nine o'clock at night. Perhaps nine inches of mud at Plumpton is not as natural as we think. Food for though.
Just the one runner tomorrow with Thompson at Southwell. Hopefully the watered ground will be safe for him. He ran with credit at Folkestone and hopefully he can improve on that effort.
Unfortunately the ground is too firm for our other entries. Most of them want give in the ground and with drying conditions, we will just have to be patient as a tendon injury is eighteen months of misery.
Our American owners Eustace and Carol Theodore were here this morning before they travel back to America tomorrow having stayed over for the Cheltenham Festival. Yesterday evening I went to see their youngsters out of their mare What A Vintage, go through the breaking process with event rider Bill Levett. The three year old Master Vintage has been backed while the two year old, Vinaigrette has just started to do some long reining. Both by Kayf Tara, they look promising types and hopefully have an exciting future.
No runners tomorrow due to the firm ground. Tendon injuries are pretty boring so it is a no brainer really when it comes to risking some horses on drying ground.
Fleetstone was pretty disappointing yesterday and we will have to investigate why. Entries for the rest of the week are ground dependent and there are a fair few horses in good form so it would great if it started to rain.
Last night I went to see one of our owners Arnie Kaplan play Fagin at the Solihull Arts Centre. It has been a lifelong ambition for Arnie to play this part and fair play, he did a great job. The Peterbrook Players a group of amateurs, put on a fantastic show and it's great to see young people on stage in the evening, away from computers, drugs and alcohol. Arnie is a real character who as many of you will know, raises a huge amount of money every year with his charity, The Gentlemen's Night Out. Unfortunately Oliver is a sell out so you will have to take his performance on my word.
Had a visit this morning from Phil Johnson. Phil in his younger days was apprentice to Henry Candy when I was the budding assistant. Apart from putting on weight and losing his hair he looks no different and now hunts with the Cottesmore, therefore his ‘bottle' must have improved.
Well done to those who backed What A Friend each way in the Gold Cup. It nearly paid off following my suggestion on the blog to back him each way at 66-1 some months ago. The horse now heads for the Grand National on a handy mark but whether he is 'man' enough remains to be seen.
Thanks to Cheltenham , I am sure you have all missed my blog. What a great week of racing. Obviously I don't want to rub it in too much but you were told Long Run at 25-1 before the King George. It was great to congratulate Robert and Sam Waley-Cohen at their celebration party at The Fox in Lower Oddington on Friday evening. A great achievement for the family.
The funniest incident of the week was Barnsy losing his hearing aid. They searched high and low for it in the village of Oddington all week. Finally got around to looking inside Henry the hoover at The Fox, where it was found in all it's glory and thanks to a baby wipe, is now back in full working order.
Today we have Fleetstone running at Lingfield in the 2 mile 3 novice hurdle. The better ground and increase in trip should suit but ultimately I think she needs handicap company to be successful. The ground is now drying out which does not suit many of our horses so declarations later in the week will be ground dependent but it looks like there will be very little rain for the foreseeable future.
Petroupetrov ran with credit yesterday at Plumpton finishing fourth. Whilst Rapid Return will now be retired from racing and anyone interested in giving this excellent ride a good home, please let us know.
Crystal Swing did not get in to the bumper at Cheltenham tomorrow so we do not have any runners tomorrow. Crystal Swing has been showing promise at home and he is for sale, so please do be in touch if you want to buy a top class jumping prospect.
Off to Cheltenham and just to remind you, on my blog over the last few weeks I have suggested various bets, one of them included backing Medermit for the Arkle and I see nothing to change my mind. I did point out that when Spirit Son won first time out in this country at Huntingdon, he was a proper racehorse and I think he is - but I think he will be pushed to beat Cue Card.
Other interesting runners today for me include Great Endeavour in the 2.40pm and I wouldn't be surprised to see Sunnyhill Boy and Bensalem fight out the finish with him. In the Champion Hurdle, I did recommend Khyber Kim at 25's but he is now too short and Overturn - but I wouldn't be surprised if Oscar Whiskey turned out to be the best value, as he was only beaten once and that was when he was not right in last year's Supreme Novice. I hear Quevega is in great form but not a backable proposition. Whilst Quantitativeeasing is an interesting runner in the last, despite his high weight.
On Saturday at Chepstow, Crackerjac Boy ran second in the two mile novice handicap. Given a positive ride by our conditional Peter Carberry, he was unable to give over a stone and a half to the winner but proved that first time blinkers helped him to concentrate. Hopefully we will find a race over a further trip soon and try and get his head in front. It was pleasing that The Someday's Here Racing Partnership were all present to see him perform. They have travelled over from America for Cheltenham and it is great that they were present for such a pleasing run.
Darby's turn looked as though he needed a step up in trip as he was unable to go the pace in the handicap chase and we will look for a race over two and a half or three miles for him in the next few weeks.
Yesterday Pezula jumped well in her first novice chase. She was beaten a long way by the winner but fortunately collected prize money in the process. Hopefully this experience will give her an opportunity to run in handicap chase in the next few weeks.
Giovanna ran well over an insufficient trip and confirmed she needs better ground, whilst Just Benny showed signs of greenness in the three mile novice hurdle but stayed on well to finish fourth. For Temoin it is time for his retirement. He has been a great servant over the years but it's time for him to do another job and anyone interested in taking him on, please let us know.
Off to Plumpton today with Rapid Return and Petroupetrov. Rapid Return runs in the three mile two handicap chase and hopefully if things go right, as they did when running over course and distance earlier in the season, he will run well. Petroupetrov has run well at Plumpton in the past and we are leaving the headgear off today to see if that can rekindle his enthusiasm.
Interesting news of Binocular. Wonder how long it will before they do breathalyser tests on racehorse trainers. Could have the whole field disqualified Cheltenham week. I'm beginning to fancy Oscar Whisky, his trainer is beginning to fancy a bottle of it. Good luck festival followers.
We have four potential runners at Warwick on Sunday. Giovanna runs in the two mile five handicap hurdle but the trip will probably be on the sharp side for her, whilst Pezula runs in the mares novice chase and will hopefully raise her game.
Just Benny is in the three mile novice hurdle but if the ground firms up, we may give it a miss. Temoin runs in the three mile five handicap chase. He would probably prefer softer ground but there are very few opportunities for him. As we know with him, if things go right he could do anything.
Last night I was kindly invited to the All Party Racing Committee's annual charity dinner at the House Of Commons. Most of racing's great and good were in attendance and over £45,000 was raised for Spinal Research and the Spinal Injuries Association.
The evening was organised by Laurence Robertson MP who has kindly arranged for a trip to the House Of Commons for the Adlestrop Club in May.
Just had an amazing conversation with Barnsy who always seems to interrupt when I'm dictating my blog. He said he was just going home to have his ‘dinner.' He is having some salmon because he can't find the cod he bought from Tescos this week. He has looked everywhere for it and as he points out, if it was under the seat of his car he would have smelt it by now.
It transpires that he is having salmon, although he has no recollection of buying this salmon. Therefore we suggested he might have bought the salmon instead of some cod. If you are confused, so am I.
Luck was not on our side yesterday with Rich Buddy nearly being brought down in the bumper. Losing about twenty lengths he then bravely ran on to finish third, five lengths behind the winner. He has a few cuts but hopefully these will heal soon and he will be able to win a bumper for us this season. He looks a promising young horse and we are all delighted that we have such a brave type to run for us in the colours of Lizzie Prowting.
Bobby Donald appreciated the step up in trip and the better ground at Catterick finishing third and staying on all the way up the straight. We look forward to finding a similar contest for him soon now that the ground is drying.
We have no runners tomorrow due to the ground firming up but hopefully a few chances over the weekend. On my way back from Catterick last night, I popped in to Beverley to do a Cheltenham Preview with my friend Malcolm Tomlinson. Malcolm is a racecourse commentator and actor, whose daughter Eleanor is heading for great heights in the acting world. It was a fun night and lots of interesting information was swapped between us.
It
appears there is a fair bit of confidence behind the Irish challenger
So Young, in the Neptune Novices Hurdle. You heard it hear last.
With Rich Buddy at Fontwell and Bobby Donald at Catterick, our runners could be further apart today but we are hopeful of good runs from both.
Last night was yet another Cheltenham Preview at the Dormy House Hotel near Broadway. It is one of the more sophisticated previews with an excellent sit down dinner included in the ticket price. It is for an excellent cause in St Richards Hospice in Worcester , whose main fundraiser is Tricia Cavell. Best Mate's owner Jim Lewis is a great supporter and was on the panel last night. Also in attendance was Simon Clare of Coral bookmakers. Definitely one of the nicest guys in racing, his father was Doctor Anthony Clare of Psychiatrists Chair fame.
Representing
the Nicholls yard were Dan and Harry Skelton. Dan is so in awe
of his boss, he has put on three stone in three years whilst
Harry impressed me with his spiral notebook and colour coded
notes. Don't know many jockeys who do that. Regular panellist
Paddy Brennan, who last year told us Imperial Commander will
win the Gold Cup - thinks if the same horse turns up this year,
he will win. Let's hope Twison Davies puts the right one on
the lorry. He also thought Khyber Kim has a great each way chance
in the Champion Hurdle – as he did last year. Lucky Sunny was a bit disappointing at Newcastle today having travelled well until the third last. Sean reported that he probably needs stepping up in trip now.
Stop The Show was third at Ffos Las yesterday where he travelled well until making a mistake at the ditch. After this mistake, he failed to put his best foot forward. Unfortunately Richard Johnson was banned for five days for marking him, which is very unfortunate as he has ridden him before and not created any problems in that area.
Tomorrow we have Bobby Donald going to Catterick in the three mile one novice handicap chase and Rich Buddy going to Fontwell in the bumper. Bobby Donald should appreciate the step up in trip whilst the bumper at Fontwell looks pretty hot. However, hopefully ‘Buddy' will improve on his debut fifth at Warwick .
Last night's Cheltenham preview was once again a great success. A sell out - the panel came up with some very interesting information. Andrew Tinkler made a good case for several Henderson runners whilst Choc Thornton pointed us to Alan King's main fancies. Francome has been to ride Irish fancy Oscars Well at Jessica Harrington's and loves him. Rick Allen came up with some fascinating statistics which just proves that selling pensions is not all time consuming. Whilst BHA handicapper Phil Smith was fascinating in his detailed information of what standard was required to win festival races.
The panel's festival naps are as follows and let's hope we win a few quid next week.
Choc Thornton Medermit Andrew Tinkler Binocular Rick Allen Anquetta Phil Smith On The Fringe John Francome Junior Richard Phillips Poquelin
Stop The Show runs at Ffos Las today with Richard Johnson onboard. Hopefully if he runs like he has already this season, he will have a chance.
Great Hero ran an excellent race at Newbury on Friday to finish fourth in the handicap hurdle. He deserves to pick up a race for us before the end of the season and looks to be a promising chaser in the making.
Mick's Dancer is gradually learning to settle and appreciated the better ground at Huntingdon. Hopefully he will have a good spring.
Last night I attended the racing quiz at The Blowing Stone in Kingston Lisle near Lambourn. Quiz master was Tom Symonds, assistant to Nicky Henderson and rider of Long Run. My team of AP McCoy, Mick Fitzgerald and Graham Bradley obviously won. But as the champion pointed out the only contribution Graham Bradley made was that he had neat handwriting. A good laugh was had by all and to be fair to AP, he is not only a hell of a rider but he has a hell of a memory. Had a fascinating chat with him and Brad over riding over obstacles and hands. Both riders are brilliant but have completely different styles and I always love discussing such matters with the best.
4th March, 2011
I went to look at horses in Yorkshire yesterday and am now on the way to see Great Hero run in the 4.40pm at Newbury. Tonight is the Twelve Club dinner at the Turf Club in London . The Twelve Club is a hundred of the great, good and bad of racing who between them, do a horses to follow competition. It is always a jolly event and hopefully it won't be too late a night as we have plenty of visitors for a work morning tomorrow.
Mick's Dancer has been declared for Huntingdon on Sunday. He needs to settle over hurdles and hopefully he is gradually getting the hang of jumping but the ground may be riding on the dead side for him.
Delighted for Jason Maguire that he is able to ride Pedlars Cross in the Champion Hurdle. Common sense has prevailed which is not always the case in this sport. In my opinion Jason is the natural successor to AP McCoy as champion jockey
Amore Mio ran a fine race yesterday at Folkestone to finish third. He stayed on well in the straight and hopefully will be winning for us before the season is out. Motou finished fourth in the bumper and may well have found the ground too heavy.
Great Hero runs at Newbury tomorrow in the two mile novice handicap hurdle with Sean Quinlan onboard. It is a competitive race and he still has quite a high handicap mark but he should run well on a track that should suit him.
This morning we had Sean Quinlan and Peter Carberry in to do some schooling and all went well.
Yesterday, I was kindly asked to an annual Cheltenham lunch held at Motcombes in London . In attendance this year amongst others were Sir Peter O'Sullevan, David Johnson, Andy Stewart, Ray Green, Hugh McIlvenny and we also had Paul Nicholls in attendance for the first time.
It is always a fun debate going through the Cheltenham runners and our fancies for the festival. P Nicholls made us laugh when he said he thought Big Bucks at even money was a massive price and also revealed that Ruby would like Big Bucks to run in the World Hurdle on the Thursday then in the Gold Cup on the Friday.
P Nicholls also said that Kauto Star would run a fine race in the Gold cup on good ground whilst Denman would need it soft, as would Masterminded in the Champion Chase. His each way tip for the meeting is Robinson Collonges in the Jewson. Sir Peter O'Sullevan's charity yankee is Menorah, Long Run, Time For Rupert and Grand Cruz. Happy birthday Sir Peter, he is 93 today and by the look of his red wine glass, there are few more years left in him yet.
We have two runners tomorrow at Folkestone, Amore Mio and Folkestone. Amore Mio is in a competitive race but hopefully he will put his best foot forward. Motou showed promise in his bumper at Warwick and the winner has won since. There is a useful bumper winner in the race along with a couple of possible useful newcomers but we are hopeful of a progressive run.
It was Barnsys's birthday yesterday and in the evening he had a small party in The Fox at Lower Oddington . It was a bit like the weighing room with Brennan, Marston, McCarthy and Quinlan in attendance. His birthday cake was made in the colours of Pak Jack, last week's winner whom Barnsy part owns. It was a great way to celebrate his 75 th and he obviously had a good time as this morning when he turned up at the yard, he looked a lot older.
Rob Brown, part owner of Phardessa and Petroupetrov came on his first visit to Adlestrop. We have had half a dozen winners or so for him and his partners over the last few seasons and it was great he finally made it to the Cotswolds to see his string in action. I showed him the delights of Daylesford mid morning and being a cheese fan, made off with a fair amount of Adlestrop cheddar. This comes highly recommended.
At lunch time we had a visit from Phil Surtees, owner and former sponsor of the yard. Phil is a real character and made us all chuckle. On introducing him to Rob Brown, Rob said to Phil, pointing at me - “he has just taken me to Daylesford,” to which Surtees replied, “you were lucky, he took me to the cleaners!”
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