Exciting times ahead
Well the weeks are flying by and finally we are looking forwards to some runners, it will be a bit like buses - all coming at once!
Marmite ran a couple of weeks ago at Fontwell and ran a stormer, finished second and was only beaten a length and a half, the winner had won on the flat and they obviously really fancied her. I was delighted with our lad, he jumped and travelled beautifully, like a professional and he has come on mentally for the run. I will aim to run him in a couple of weeks, he's still only a baby and I love to see him having a rest out in the paddock after exercise, he's a bit spoilt to be honest!
So after having a nice quiet couple of weeks Marmite has had a treatment with Anton and a good old streatch, followed by a treatment with Polly (the physio) this afternoon, I think I would like to come back as one of my horses!!!
The rest of the gang are really coming on well, probably the best I have ever had them this time of year, its amazing how well and happy they are. I think it makes a difference when the yard is a happy place and the staff are positive and believe that the horses can do the job. I am so lucky to have two great staff now, Ann-Marie does the yard work for us and Ashley is now riding out with me, she has a great attitude and wants to learn and it is wonderful to see someone who actually loves horses. The horses pick up on that too and they are thriving, we shall probably take 4 to Newbury for a racecourse canter next Sunday two of which are unraced, the lovely Overbury that I have been riding - he is now the love of my life (sorry Greg, Passato, Mr F, Gallic...) Ok another love.. and Crusader who has so many problems for the past 3 years, noone expected him to ever get this far and probably Heroes or Ghosts and Mr FItzroy.
Crusader is coming on so well I can't believe that its the same horse from week to week, we even jumped him this morning, Ashley had her first Jo lesson and still came away smiling, Cru thought he was king kong and I have started to secretly think about a race, shhh don't tell him!!!
The funniest thing was him trying to bully Bill this morning whilst we were out riding, he decided that Bill was not good enough to come upsides him either trotting or cantering (they have been going upsides for the past 5 weeks!) and he even tried to barge into him, ears back when cantering, Bill and I decided that he was much bigger and dropped back for our own safety, although Bill knwe he could have taken him whenever he wanted...
So our next runners will probably be Marmite and Starfoot, who is so fresh at the moment he could do with something to aim at, after that they will be coming thick and fast with another couple still to come in before the end of November.]
As well as training I do buy horses John Marriott to run on the flat - over the years I have bought him quite a few winners, in fact the first winners that he had had in this country for a few years were Flash and Starfoot, both bought and trained by me. John likes to have most of his horses up near to his dad Albert, Ivan Furtardo has two that I bought over the last year and this week I bought two lovely yearlings for John. The first is a Footstepsinthesand Colt, with a conformation to die for, great walk and a lovely attitude.
The second is a Society Rock colt, again beautifully made and has a great step to him.
They have gone to a yard in Leicestershire to be broken before John chooses a trainer for them. My strike rate over the years for horses bought to winners is very high...lets hope it continues with these lads and Marmite, Starfoot, Heroes, Flash, Bill for us!