Well I never!! Jess won again in a very competitive 16 runner race. I am still in shock as I half thought that her last win was a bit of a fluke. She really doesn't show anything at all at home and is the sort of horse you can put anyone on as she rarely picks up the bridle. She beat some very good horses and the 'We Never Give up' club were highly delighted and insisted on us all going to The Carpenters Arms at Lower Boddington for a celebration drink or two......
The two maidens went very nicely, unfortunately Dolly was in season and was a bit flat, but she won best turned out and jumped beautifully - She was in the more competitive division of the maidens and they went flat to the board, she kept with them until the top of the hill when she lost a bit of ground and Toby thought she had done enough.After her race a bloodstock agent came to us and said that her sire 'Useful' was very much sort after in Ireland and there are trainers who will pay any sort of money for progeny by him - He also said that they are slow to mature but when they do they make it worth the wait, which was encouraging. Ben ran a much better race than expected as he is a bit of a geek at home and can't seem to put one leg in front of the other without getting confused, but somehow he managed to jump fourteen fences beautifully until Pete thought he had done enough as he changed legs a few times in front of a fence. He tried to pull him up and went around the fence but then Ben took a strong hold and to Pete's embarrassment continued enthusiastically with the field right to the finishing line - needless to say the stewards had a 'little chat' with him!
Doug has just walked Whitfield again as we haven't had the overnight rain we were hoping for and sadly the ground has gone to firm, particularly on the home straight. Very frustrating as the three horses (Ponty, Rosie and Dancer) were all bathed, plaited and looking rather beautiful and most importantly needed the run.The alarm bells rang with me when I heard that they had stopped watering mid-week. I really cannot understand why they hadn't continued until the day of racing, particularly with such drying conditions.It is such a shame as so much work goes into holding a point to point and yet they just seem to fall at the last hurdle by not getting the most important thing right - the ground.
We will go anyway and enjoy the social side. It looks as though we wont be roughing off as many horses as I had hoped this week...
The two maidens went very nicely, unfortunately Dolly was in season and was a bit flat, but she won best turned out and jumped beautifully - She was in the more competitive division of the maidens and they went flat to the board, she kept with them until the top of the hill when she lost a bit of ground and Toby thought she had done enough.After her race a bloodstock agent came to us and said that her sire 'Useful' was very much sort after in Ireland and there are trainers who will pay any sort of money for progeny by him - He also said that they are slow to mature but when they do they make it worth the wait, which was encouraging. Ben ran a much better race than expected as he is a bit of a geek at home and can't seem to put one leg in front of the other without getting confused, but somehow he managed to jump fourteen fences beautifully until Pete thought he had done enough as he changed legs a few times in front of a fence. He tried to pull him up and went around the fence but then Ben took a strong hold and to Pete's embarrassment continued enthusiastically with the field right to the finishing line - needless to say the stewards had a 'little chat' with him!
Doug has just walked Whitfield again as we haven't had the overnight rain we were hoping for and sadly the ground has gone to firm, particularly on the home straight. Very frustrating as the three horses (Ponty, Rosie and Dancer) were all bathed, plaited and looking rather beautiful and most importantly needed the run.The alarm bells rang with me when I heard that they had stopped watering mid-week. I really cannot understand why they hadn't continued until the day of racing, particularly with such drying conditions.It is such a shame as so much work goes into holding a point to point and yet they just seem to fall at the last hurdle by not getting the most important thing right - the ground.
We will go anyway and enjoy the social side. It looks as though we wont be roughing off as many horses as I had hoped this week...
