York(ie) Bars
Plenty going on during the last week – but we will start with some ‘parish notices’ regarding the future.
As many will know – September is the month for our Syndicate Saturdays – when we head to a different yard on each of the four Saturdays during the month – to get together and see the horses work.
These visits are open to all – owners, members, friends and followers – but please do book with me so that I have a handle on numbers for each yard. Please do not feel that you are limited to attending the yard where you may have a horse in training – everyone is welcome to all four yards.
The dates and times are as follows:
Saturday September 6th – Fergal O’Brien – Ravenswell Farm GL54 4DD – 8.00am – 11.00am
Saturday September 13th - Olly Murphy – Warren Chase Stables – CV37 9XG – 8.00am – 11.00am
Saturday September 20th – Donald McCain – Bankhouse Stables – SY14 8AL – 8.00am – 11.00am
Saturday September 27th – Alan King – Barbury Castle Stables – SN4 0QZ – 8.30am – 11.00am
Please email nickbrownracing@gmail.com or call/message me on 07909 518902 to book places for yourself, friends and family – as I said – all welcome!
Monday – there was plenty of work to do with the new Alan King Racing Club – there has been a tremendous uptake in membership – and with only 36 shares available in total – you will need to be quick to secure your share for the next 12 months. As many that have joined up have pointed out – with three horses to run for the club – two National Hunt Horses – and one to run on the Flat – there will be action for all of the 12 month term – there will always be a horse in training to go to the races – when I’d Go Maniac is on a break, Ghost Dancing and Uhtred Ragnarson will be turning out – and then when they head off for a summers break – IGM will be back running on the flat – this is unlike many Clubs – which although offering a 12 month term – will have no runners from May until October – this is a truly all year round Club – which means it is incredible value!
Alan King was the first on with a video update on Monday – Uhtred Ragnarson having his first school of the season – starting over the logs before jumping the hurdles in the school. UR was placed in a bumper in Huntingdon – a race that is working out well – before placing 3 times over hurdles (3,2,3) He was ‘over the top’ for his last run and headed off for a long break afterwards. As you can see – now back cantering – he starts the season on, what Kingy thinks, is a nicely workable mark – and should be lots of fun for the season, as he is still eligible for maiden and novice hurdles as well as handicaps!
Good to get two clips from Donald McCain’s as well – Old Blue Eyes, and Ridin Solo cantering on the round sand gallop. Donald has been really pleased with both – OBE has matured and strengthened and has been in rude health – very fresh!
Ridin Solo looks fantastic – he seems to be benefitting for the changes that we made to his routine when he came back in – and the medication that he received – and he is looking and moving really well – I hope to get up to the yard very soon to see all three of the horses there!
Later in the day, Jason Maguire called with some good news – the vet, having returned from holiday – had been in and scanned Cloud Dancer and was delighted with the progress that he had made. CD suffered a nasty leg injury on his last start in March and has been rehabbing at Ivy Lodge Farm ever since. As the vet was very pleased with his progress, he was able to spend a few hours in a small paddock each day – before being turned out in a bigger field in a few days. He will remain in the field until January, when he will be rescanned, and a plan put in place for his return to the track.
Tuesday – and an early start. A trip down to Ravenswell Farm with the members of The Ravenstone Partnership to see Finbar. We had hoped to get in to see him a couple of weeks ago – but circumstances didn’t allow that trip to happen – and with a busy 2 weeks ahead – I had to squeeze this visit in when I could. I collected Alan on the way down arriving at Ravenswell at 7.00am in time for coffee and a chat before first lot. Great to see Debbie – who spent the morning with us taking some fantastic photos and videos. Greyval out first lot, under Aidan Coleman. Greyval is coming to hand very nicely and has moved up to three canters up the hill. She is another one that looks great – and really is moving well. She did her work very easily and Aidan was very happy with her – he feels that her fitness will rapidly improve now, and that she will be ready to run next month. The start of her season will be slightly unorthodox, as she will start off with a spin on the flat to test her flat handicap mark – she could be very well treated on her French mark, now that she is a little older and wiser. She will then have a run over hurdles in October – before switching to a novice chase campaign in November! A bit different – but sure to be fun! Interesting that Aidan feels the same as I do – that there could well be a bit of ‘juice’ left in her handicap mark – so the plan we have in place will try to get every little bit we can before we head over fences!
It was great to see a good few of The Ravenstone Partnership make the trip to the yard to see their lad Finbar. They got to see him canter on the round gallop. He has been on light duties for a day or two – as he contracted a nasty bout of ringworm on his head – oddly we have three horses in three different yards with the same problem. Ringworm is a fungal infection that along with the obvious skin lesions, can leave a horse feeling a bit under the weather – so while he has it – his young system will not be overly taxed. A few antifungal washes soon sorts the problem, and it is likely that the ringworm is now totally dead – but there is no rush, and it is not worth taking any chances with him. As soon as Fergal is sure that he is clear of it – he will increase his workload again. One thing for sure – Finbar doesn’t seem to be feeling any ill effects as he was as sharp as ever! He is quite the character – and you can’t let your guard down with him for one second. When he gets down to work he soon settles down and one thing is for sure – he moves beautifully! He has always been the most athletic little horse – and Fergal is certainly delighted with what he has seen of him so far – he really does look tailor made for the Junior Bumpers in the autumn – and with a bit of luck we can have a crack at the Listed 4 yr old bumper in Cheltenham on New Years Day! He certainly has the right attitude to be galloping up that hill – he is very tough!
A special mention to Fran and Dawn who both made cakes – Fran – lemon drizzle – most of which made it to Ravenswell – and Dawn a Victoria Sandwich – both Ravenswell favourites!
All eyes were on the BHA website at 8.00am – just to see if the handicapper had dropped Dino Bellagio at all – surprisingly he had – down a pound! Dino fit and well and we can start to look for a race for him again.
From Fergal’s we headed over to Ivy Lodge Farm – not a scheduled stop, but it was a chance for Fran to see the 3 yr old The Grey Gatsby gelding while she was in the area. ‘Gatsby’ looks fantastic – and has blossomed into the most gorgeous horse! He has everything – size, scope, strength and athleticism – having been in our system since he was purchased as a yearling 2 years ago, Jason has had plenty of time to get to know him – and he likes him a lot. He has found that everything he has asked him to do he has done very easily – and has ‘only been playing at the game!’ As he has got fitter this summer – he has got increasingly fresh – and for the last week ‘Gatsby’ has been letting everyone know that he is ready for the step up to ‘Big School’ and it was the right time for him to make the trip to Olly Murphys. Before we left Ivy Lodge Farm we agreed that he should make that trip in following days.
While at Ivy Lodge Farm – we got to see our 2 yr old gelding by Golden Horn – who having been the most amazing horse to break in – has earned himself a short break in the field. He will be back into Ivy Lodge Farm in the autumn to have a little more education, but until then he will have a bit of R&R in the field with friends. At one stage we did consider maybe sending him into training with a flat 3 yr old campaign in mind, but we have decided against that now and he will be heading down the national hunt route – with a 3 yr old bumper and hurdles campaign in mind for him in 12 months time. Like everyone, I am sometimes guilty of looking at our horses through slightly rose tinted glasses – so it was nice to chat to a man (who would consider himself a judge), when I was in at Ravenswell and have him tell me that ‘the Golden Horn with Maguire is a lovely horse!’ – he really is – we love him!
Cloud Dancer looked really well, and his legs handled great – it will not be long before he is out in the field – and Intrepide Sud has settled in well – he is having sessions on the water treadmill, and Jason is going to get a local event rider to come in and ride him for an hour a day from next week – IS needs to have plenty of flat work to get moving again – and a bit of rudimentary dressage will do him the world of good.
Wednesday, we headed up to York for our annual trip to their Ebor Meeting. First things first plenty of work to do in the office – one of those days that, the more I did, the more I seemed to need to do. As it was all work that definitely needed to be done before Debbie’s visit to Barbury Castle on Thursday – there was no getting away from it - we left a little later than planned.
Alan sent through a video of I’d Go Maniac working very well up Sharpridge! He is in fantastic form – and worked great upsides a 93 rated rival who would go onto finish third in a very competitive Melrose Stakes in York on Saturday. Although not the best piece of filming by the trainer, you can see IGM works very well and is definitely a horse that will give the members of the Alan King Racing Club a huge amount of fun for the remainder of this flat campaign and on into next summer! He looks like a horse that could well take members to some very nice meetings on some summer Saturdays!
A decent trip north – and an afternoon in the City – seeing the sights (and shops!). Finally, we settled in the pub for a few liveners and were joined by friends later on. For dinner, we headed round to Little Italy – our favourite restaurant in York – so good in fact that while we ate on Wednesday we booked again for the following night! Little Italy always gets very busy – and we were lucky to get a table! If you are ever in York – do head there – a superb restaurant – great food – and a really good deli below!
The Shambles by night
Thursday – and a day at the races. As part of the prize package for the half million pound Sales race sponsored by our friends at Goffs – Atacanter Horseboxes who I work with provide a free 6 month lease of a brand new horsebox to the winning trainer. As a result, we get to spend the day with Goffs in their superb hospitality suite on the ground floor of the Melrose Stand. It is always one of my favourite days of the year – York is simply superb. Wonderful to have HRH The Queen in attendance – Her Majesty loves her racing, and racing is very fortunate to have continued Royal patronage after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The sales race was won by Clive Cox – his third win in the race in the last 3 years – he will never buy a new horsebox!! Joking aside – what a buying and training performance, to source and train the winner of the same race, from horses offered at just a single sale each year is nothing short of amazing – well done to him and his team – Clive is also a very nice man!
Before racing it was great to get a video of Nevada Samba cantering up Sharpridge. He too has had a bout of ringworm on his head – and has been given time to get over it.
With me in York – Debbie popped into Barbury Castle to finalise and sign some paperwork for the Alan King Racing Club. While there she got to see Uhtred Ragnarson and I’d Go Maniac exercise, along with Nevada Samba out on the hill. All three look great – but I have to say – Nevada Samba has developed into a lovely big horse – not running him in the spring was probably the best thing we could have done – he has been given time to mature and strengthen and in Debbie’s words ‘He’s a beast now!’
Nevada Samba
While in York I had a few meetings of my own. Great to catch up with my pal Mark Blackford from Venatour who offer travel packages for racing fans to destinations all over the world. Mark and I have been trying to put something together between ourselves and Venatour for quite a while, and we made a few plans to work together over the course of the coming months! Good to catch up with Goffs auctioneer George Stanners too – during the course of our chat, a few little ideas took root – I will be heading north to see some young horses in the next month!
Friday morning and we have to move the horsebox from the position it was in for Thursdays race – back to the horsebox park – all done nice and early – and onto Robinsons on Bishopsthorpe Road for breakfast – like Little Italy – a regular spot while we are in York. We stay at the Roomzzz Apartment Hotel down by the river – and Robinsons is a 5 minute walk for a fantastic breakfast – great coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and a bacon and egg sandwich – fantastic with a small bowl of hashbrowns! Another one well worth a visit – 8-30am – 3.00pm – very popular with racegoers!
While we were having a lovely leisurely breakfast – Darran and his family were visiting Ravenswell Farm – and then Ivy Lodge Farm. Darran has a share in Intrepide Sud who is with Jason – and it was nice to receive a video from him of IS. Darran chatted with Jason who told him IS would be ridden again next week.
After Darran and family had left Ravenswell – Finbar had his first taste of Fergal’s new outdoor arena that will be used to educate the youngsters and freshen up the older horses. The arena will be used for flat work and schooling and is a big addition to the facilities at the yard. Finbar really enjoyed his go round it – and as you can see, he was moving beautifully on the surface!
More were moving too – but in a different way – Gatsby left Ivy Lodge Farm and headed into training with Olly Murphy. The time has come for him to step up – and he is ready to make the step up to big school. The system at Warren Chase Stables will suit him well – as he has shown at Ivy Lodge Farm that he relishes working on a deep sand gallop. He will fit right into the system!
Two more on the move were Cloud Dancer and ‘George’ our 2 yr old Golden Horn, who both made the short trip from Ivy Lodge Farm to Timmy Murphy’s Cilldara Stud, to join Floyd our homebred 3 yr old who is there. Cloud Dancer will remain in the field until January – half brothers, George and Floyd will head back into Ivy Lodge Farm in a couple of months to continue their educations.
I’d Go Maniac’s excellent work this week – earned him an entry in Ffos Las next Thursday. Alan has been thrilled with his work as you can imagine and is keen to run him. Should he head to Wales on Thursday he will be the first runner for the Alan King Racing Club – and we are very much looking forward to getting cracking! This will be IGM’s second start on the level – after a very respectable debut in Leicester last month. Rob Hornby, who rode him that day was very impressed with him and was certain that there was plenty of fun to be had with him in the future. He will undoubtably improve for the step up in trip – but a little like Dino Bellagio, who also won bumpers and switched to the flat – there are no maiden or novice races over staying trips so their qualifying marks will always be at a shorter trip than ideal. When he has a mark – he will be giving Club members a huge amount of fun!
Saturday – and Debbie was hard at work putting together all of the photo albums and videos from her stable visits earlier in the week. We are so lucky to have Debbie on the team – her work adds an extra dimension to the service that we offer our owners and members – her photos and videos are amazing!
One example of her work was very well received this week – when Dragos, who looks after Greyval, returned from his holiday and received the framed photo that I ordered from Debbie of Greyval’s win in Cheltenham as a memento and thank you for all that he does. He really does love the mare!
I was up early catching up on office work – creating QR Codes for cards to go on our horses’ stable doors in readiness for the upcoming National Racehorse Week – when thousands of people will be heading to a large number of yards around the country. A quick scan of these codes as folks tour the yard will give them all the information about the horse in the stable and if there are any shares available in each horses along with details of size and costs. We currently only have shares available in two horses – have a look on the FOR SALE page for their details, where you will also find details of our new flat syndicate that will have a horse in training with Sir Mark Prescott next spring/summer – head over there and have a look – both of the horses with shares available are now in full training and will run this autumn!
Alan sent through another video of I’d Go Maniac, confirming his wellbeing – working with a 7f horse.
Olly sent through a video of Gatsby having his first taste of the Warren Chase gallop. He has settled in beautifully and went round the gallop as if he had been on it all his life! When I spoke to Olly, he was very impressed with Gatsby, saying that he was a lot bigger than he remembered him when he saw him at Jasons earlier in the year. Gatsby is a very strong robust horse that will be aimed at a bumper this autumn.
Around the rest of the team – Dino Bellagio is very well – Donald called on Thursday and as I was at York, and enjoying a free bar – our chat about plans was shorter than usual – but I agreed with everything he said, and Dino will have entries from next week onwards – with an eye on the weather. And She Was is still on her break but will be back in work very soon – and the third horse in the Alan King Racing Club – the gorgeous 3 yr old grey filly Ghost Dancing is on a short break with Jamie Magee, as she came to hand very quickly and would have been ready way ahead of her October targets. She works very well, and her schooling has been fantastic – she will start in a junior bumper.
Next week – we head to the sales on Tuesday – but will miss the final day on Thursday as I will be back home for Cheryl’s Mums funeral.
Another busy week – please get in touch re the stable visits in September – remember – ALL welcome – the mornings are always great fun and a fantastic chance to meet up with other owners, members and friends and see some lovely horses up close on the gallops!
