Shawhill today

Shawhill goes up to York to run in a competitive little listed handicap.  She’s the outsider of five, and I fancy her to go very well. There are a lot of imponderables here; She’s never raced on ground as soft as this … or over a distance as long as this Last time she won she was on a mark …

The adventures of Ary

After a lot of hype Ary finally came out on Saturday.  It looked as if he was dead and buried, but in a dramatic finale he stormed back to beat Tom.  Unfortunately King’s Quay came on the wide outside and beat them both – still an excellent second, and if the cards had fallen a little better for him he could …

If you can meet with triumph and disaster…

… and treat those two imposters just the same…  I’m not sure I agree with Rudyard Kipling on that one – I definitely prefer triumph to disaster and I’ve seen a bit of both this week. Authorized‘s defeat last week was a blow – I was hoping he’d have an unbeaten 3yo year.  I’m less comfortable with the tactics of …

Eazy Peazy

I’ve been waiting to write that headline for a long time.  Major Eazy’s win at the fifth attempt on Saturday night was long overdue, and at last we have confirmation of something we have believed for a long time – he is a proper racehorse. Every jockey who has sat on ME has told us that he is a quality …

Update from Tom’s yard

I went to see Tom Dascombe on Thursday, and welcome Shawhill back from France.  The RP rated her run 99, and Timeform gave it 95.  We’ll continue to aim her at listed races or better.  Baldovina was well and she may run tomorrow.  We’ve been trying to get a run into her for a while, but she keeps returning dirty …

Shawhill shines

I’ve had an enormous number of second places this year, and there haven’t been many that I have been genuinely happy about.  Shawhill’s courageous second place in France, clobbered close to the line with a decent gap back to third, is one I will remember affectionately for a long time. Taking a horse abroad is not easy.  We took Shawhill across on the …

Rock me Amadeus

Shawhill showed again what a game filly she is without getting her head in front. The ground was totally different to anything she had encountered to date, but she dealt with it well. She blew a lot more than last time and she’s due a rest. I’ve had a chat with Tom – we’ll give her longer breaks between races …

A long week

The end of a long week. King’s Head didn’t win, but after the rain I didn’t expect him to and I didn’t have a penny on him – for some reason he was heavily punted. Crimson Monarch didn’t stay. Ger Butler proved that he is very much in form, winning Highland Legacy’s race with a 20-1 shot and landing a …

Ratings

Winker Watson, recently top of the Racing Post 2yo ratings with 92 has slipped to fourth – Major Eazy is joint seventh on 88. Achilles of Troy tops the list with 100. Call me a pedant but I don’t like the name – Achilles was Greek and he fought against the Trojans, not with them. Shawhill has been raised from …

Hotting up

Mick and I went down to Lambourn early on Thursday to catch up with a few trainers. We started with Tom Dascombe, and watched all four horses in light work. Conservation has recovered from the gelding operation and also from an accident he had on the horse walker – he’s still a while away from a run though. Master of …