Monday 13 January 2014

Doctor Kingsley trying very hard!
He loved the track and won going away!!  A fantastic day with the youngsters also doing us proud. First of all we had Dolly (Velvet Royale) and Ben (Whither Goest Thou) in the maiden. They both behaved beautifully in the paddock and then went down to the start with thirteen other competitors. The older maidens went off ridiculously quickly and our jockeys, Pete on Ben and Harry on Dolly just kept their cool and stayed mid-division getting the horses into a nice rhythm and making sure they could see their fences. They both jumped beautifully and we were so proud of them when a lot of the field were pulling up and they were still going strongly. Dolly looked as though she was going to win at the last but made a tired mistake which put her into fourth place and Ben wasn't far behind in fifth place. It was so rewarding as both horses have learnt so quickly and really seemed to enjoy themselves. It was then Jake's turn - He seemed almost too happy in the paddock, which isn't always a good sign as we like to see him looking aggressive and grinding his teeth and also looked a little on the pudgy side, so we weren't surprised that he wasn't favourite and was drifting in the market. He was in a field of eleven top class horses, which when the flag dropped went off at breakneck speed. Poor Jake simply couldn't go any faster and at one stage the front group were a good ten lengths in front, but third time up the hill Jake gradually ground them into submission and flew into the lead just after the last fence. It was a thrilling finish and we were absolutely delighted that he was back to his winning ways as you really never know with him what mood he is going to be in.  Harry (Out of Range) was next, and we were a little concerned that we had over faced him as we entered him in the restricted even though he is still a maiden with just run under his belt. This is because we already had two horses in the maiden and we wanted Pete to ride him. There were eighteen horses in his race(all of which had already won a race) but he was the eye catcher. They set off very fast again but Harry has got such a huge stride that he soon powered to the front of the field. All the other horses looked as though they were going flat out but Harry looked as though he was just having a canter. He jumped beautifully and thoroughly enjoyed himself, just getting tired third time up the hill and finishing fifth. All in all a fantastic effort for such an inexperienced horse and we have a lot to look forward to with all three of the youngsters who really did us proud.
Much champagne was consumed on the way back in the lorry and then we all went out to celebrate in the Carpenters where Marge cooked us a delicious steak to soak up the alcohol.  A day like that has to be treasured as we all know with racehorses that they can be few and far between....