I’m back from a short holiday on the south coast holiday today. Weather was sporadically good and the kids had a great time. Back to business now – I’ve been told off for letting my blog go to seed so I’ll try to make more of an effort.
The horses continue to run moderately. Foghorn Leghorn ran at York the other day and finished down the field – he was struck into quite badly during the race and finished slightly lame. He’ll have a rest now. Peintre D’Argent ran a half decent third at Newmarket, fairly beaten but probably still her best run to date. She continues to work well at home and we think she is still improving – she may win more. Cheddar George has been a big disappointment and will be gelded this week. Maxwell Hawke has moved to Manor House – he’s had soundness problems but is well now and may run at Ayr on Wednesday. Wolf Slayer ran a stinker last time – I’m not sure why.
I had one very sad piece of news. I only have a few 2yos showing real sparkle on the gallops, and one of these was Ankh, trained at Manor House. Ankh was going to make her debut in a listed race in France as she had been clocking superb times on the gallops. Tragically, on what might have been her last piece of serious work before running, she broke her pelvis – as occasionally happens she broke it so violently that she severed an artery – she died thirty minutes later from internal bleeding.
As I have been told many times, it always happens to the good ones – they push themselves to the limit and risk their wellbeings in doing so. I owned Ankh in a syndicate of six – as it happens her brother by Dalakhani came up at auction the following week. The syndicate bought him for E120k – most of this will be paid for by the insurance for Ankh.
One runner today – Bouguereau comes back to the track, and hopefully this time he will see out his race. Richard Hughes rode last time and for some reason he got cold feet and pulled the horse up – this time he is ridden by Jack Mitchell. Pete thinks he is coming back to his best form – he may need the run slightly but should run a good race and will be helped by the fact that he is a front runner – handy at Chester. I’m hopeful.