I’m still reeling over the Winker news – apart from anything else it was only a gentle piece of work today. I really believe he was a virtual certainty in the Middle Park – Pete certainly thought so and the only threat looked to be Sir Gerry – he would have been a very short price. Reading the Betfair forum I …
Winker out
Desperate news from Pete – Winker had a setback today and will now miss the rest of the season. He did a light piece of work this morning and he was fine immediately afterwards, but he was sore and a bit stiff later on and they called in the vet. An X-ray showed no damage, but the vet has advised us …
All guns blazing
Winker made the front page of the Racing Post today as Jeremy went public with our ambitious plans. Winker is extremely well and we think he’s the best 2yo out there – we’re going to try to win both the Middle Park and the Dewhurst to prove our point, and we’re hoping we can persuade Jim Bolger to run New Approach against …
Blame it on the Bougie
Bouguereau runs in the 4.40 at Goodwood, and anything other than a win will be a disappointment. His came fourth last time in the Criterium du Fonds, a listed race at Deaville which is a group race in all but name. The prize money for this race is greater than that for the Flying Childers yesterday which is a group …
Winker waits
Pete called us after Winker‘s work this morning and said he is still running a bit flat and needs more time. We could have run him over the weekend in group company but he’s too good a horse to take liberties with. The Middle Park is only three weeks away and that is his next target – he should be …
Catch up
I’ve been short on time and have a fair bit of catching up to do. No runners last week but a few this week. I’ve been to Newmarket, and the Comic Strip Heroes have bought another three yearlings (possibly four) in the sales. The main event at the WSOPE starts today, and I’m playing in it. Shepherd’s Warning was targeting …
Men with cats
Ultimately a disappointing week horse wise, but a good break with the family. We took the quick ferry over to France on the Monday – around 3 hours from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and a 2 hour drive the other end. It was fairly uneventful – my one observation was that although I wasn’t driving that fast in France I wasn’t …
Vive La France
I’m off to Deauville with the family this morning – we’ve decided to make a week of it ending with Winker running in the Morny on Sunday. As I’ve said he’s in great form and I think he’ll win easily – the danger looks to be MyBoyCharlie who has been impressive in winning, albeit on heavy ground. Racing looks pretty grim …
French double
I had a long chat with Pete today. It’s all systems go for Winker on Sunday week in the Prix Morny, and he’s working extremely well. I don’t see anything beating him – if he wins we may go for an extremely aggressive 2yo campaign with him. The best news he had concerned Bouguereau. Pete was on his way to …
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 …