Back to earth with a bump...Dingley was postponed because of the rain so we had Sunday off from racing, which meant we could go to a lunch party we had been invited to. It was lovely to catch up with everyone, most of which had heard about our Cheltenham win and were really excited for us.
The following day was at Mollington, which was the first time back on that track for four years as the farmer who owned the land at the time hoped that he was going to sell it for development and didn't allow the point to point to go ahead. It was great to be back - I have always loved Mollington and have fond memories of winning there on Supreme Dream at 33-1 - the bookies still remember that day as a lot of locals backed me, and I don't think they have forgiven me yet!
Mollington is a very testing track at the best of times as it has a very steep finish, and with the rain the ground was particularly challenging.
Haunted House went first with Toby on board. We needed to find out from a more experienced jockey what the score was with him and whether we should run him at a shorter distance, but sadly we never found out as he was going very nicely when he slipped on landing at the sixth fence, lost his back end and Toby came off - both horse and jockey absolutely fine and thankfully there to fight another day.
The Irish RM (Paddy) and We never give up' (Jess) were both in the same race and both looked superb in the paddock with Jess just pipping Paddy for best turned out. Paddy, I have to admit looked like a very nice show hunter and just more than a little on the portly side - At home he does as much work as the others and yet he never raises a sweat, also, with the heart monitor we found that he has an extraordinarily low heart rate, (interestingly so does Doctor Kingsley) so he is a very difficult horse to get fit - needless to say we weren't surprised when he failed to get home and blew like a train for some time afterwards. He jumped really well, and we know there is a lot of improvement to come yet, we just need to get him fitter for next time and restrict his time out on grass.
Jess went a lot better than we expected as we were told when we bought her that she hated soft ground, she jumped brilliantly and was in the leading group when she ran out of puff one fence from home.
All horses are fine this morning and it was just fantastic to be back at Mollington, where the festivities went on into the night, (after we had taken the horses back I must add!)
This morning Doug rode Doctor Kingsley for the first time since his win and nearly came off three times - he is as fresh as paint and really knows that he has won. Quite astonishing how well he is - he certainly seemed to be a lot brighter than our staff and ourselves who having celebrated non stop since Wednesday evening were feeling distinctly shabby.
The following day was at Mollington, which was the first time back on that track for four years as the farmer who owned the land at the time hoped that he was going to sell it for development and didn't allow the point to point to go ahead. It was great to be back - I have always loved Mollington and have fond memories of winning there on Supreme Dream at 33-1 - the bookies still remember that day as a lot of locals backed me, and I don't think they have forgiven me yet!
Mollington is a very testing track at the best of times as it has a very steep finish, and with the rain the ground was particularly challenging.
Haunted House went first with Toby on board. We needed to find out from a more experienced jockey what the score was with him and whether we should run him at a shorter distance, but sadly we never found out as he was going very nicely when he slipped on landing at the sixth fence, lost his back end and Toby came off - both horse and jockey absolutely fine and thankfully there to fight another day.
The Irish RM (Paddy) and We never give up' (Jess) were both in the same race and both looked superb in the paddock with Jess just pipping Paddy for best turned out. Paddy, I have to admit looked like a very nice show hunter and just more than a little on the portly side - At home he does as much work as the others and yet he never raises a sweat, also, with the heart monitor we found that he has an extraordinarily low heart rate, (interestingly so does Doctor Kingsley) so he is a very difficult horse to get fit - needless to say we weren't surprised when he failed to get home and blew like a train for some time afterwards. He jumped really well, and we know there is a lot of improvement to come yet, we just need to get him fitter for next time and restrict his time out on grass.
Jess went a lot better than we expected as we were told when we bought her that she hated soft ground, she jumped brilliantly and was in the leading group when she ran out of puff one fence from home.
All horses are fine this morning and it was just fantastic to be back at Mollington, where the festivities went on into the night, (after we had taken the horses back I must add!)
This morning Doug rode Doctor Kingsley for the first time since his win and nearly came off three times - he is as fresh as paint and really knows that he has won. Quite astonishing how well he is - he certainly seemed to be a lot brighter than our staff and ourselves who having celebrated non stop since Wednesday evening were feeling distinctly shabby.
