Velvet Steel looking very beautiful before winning her race.

 

All the runners have come out of the race incredibly well. You just would not believe that Popaway was thirteen years old and is still so enthusiastic. She absolutely loves her work and racing and it will be difficult to retire her at the end of the season, but we know it will be the right thing to do.
Velvet Steel (Tik)  may not win 18 races but I got a huge amount of pleasure from her win as we have had to have an enormous amount of patience with her. To say that she is quirky would be an understatement. She refused to race on her very first start at Brafield two years ago, and on her second start at Atherstone a horse unfortunately ran across her at the last fence and badly injured her back. It has taken until now for her to be fully healed. She used to spin and plant and has got rid of many jockeys, including Peter Mann who she put in hospital. However, we have managed to put all that aggression into her work and it seems to be paying off. She now understands what the point of it all is and loves life and is a very well behaved girl (most of the time...)
She came from Ireland and is very nicely bred out of a black type mare called 'She's My Mare' so she should make a nice brood mare for the future. She is lucky to be with us at all though as when she was picked up by her Irish owner in a trailer he was happily driving along when a horse overtook him on the road - It was her! She had jumped out the back of the trailer and was careering along the tarmac avoiding the traffic. It could only happen in Ireland...