Wednesday at Beverley with our little two-year-old BETTYS HOPE summed up our start to the turf season, the string running well but not getting the rub of the green as we have had six seconds in April so far. However, it is certainly positive that the string has hit the ground running and we look forward to entering the number one spot again soon.
BETTYS HOPE (pictured) has so far proved to be the sharpest of our two-year-olds and while she isn’t very big, she is an honest straight forward filly that has made a good start to her career. On debut at Kempton she may have come up against a potential superstar in Lady Kermit, who was backed as if defeat was out of the question, and although beaten six lengths, there was three lengths or more to the rest. In a bid to take advantage of her experience, we decided to send her up to Beverley for a non-bonus Novice Auction and for most of the race it looked as if the 600 mile round trip for Louise and Pat was going to pay off but she just lost out at the line (see photo!). It was particularly galling to see that the second division was run in a time 1.4 seconds slower but once again she has taken the race in her stride and may go back up to Beverley next week against fillies only.
Things haven’t quite gone CHAMPAGNE CHAMP’s way this winter but with blinkers on he looked a different horse at Wincanton on Sunday, travelling strongly in front and looking to have the race in the bag as they approached the final hurdle. Unfortunately, he produced a tired jump and somehow Sean Bowen got a strong run out of Serosevsky and we were denied in the final twenty yards. With the handicapper likely to raise him a few pounds for a narrow defeat (fourth won two days later) he could be forced to make a quick reappearance on his old mark and there are races at Ffos Las and Kempton available for him.
SINGING THE BLUES has had a fantastic winter campaign and he was arguably unlucky not to get the four-timer stepped up to two miles at Lingfield. With Charlie Bishop riding him for the first time at a track where hard-luck stories are common place, he got boxed in on the downhill run and just let the winner get first run and despite battling on gamely, he couldn’t reel him in. It showed he does have the stamina for two miles and he isn’t handicapped out of things just yet.
BONNEVILLE has proved very versatile trip/surface wise this winter and he produced another good effort, adding another second on the fibresand at Southwell. He was just very unfortunate to come up against a horse in Smarter, who had gone through the sales ring for £220,000gns yet had found himself in a Class 6 handicap. Although no match for that horse who won by nine lengths, he finished six lengths clear of the rest and deserves to win a small race.
On his first start of the season, COBWEB CATCHER ran a nice race to finish second at Windsor, showing loads of speed but got tired inside the final furlong. As a half-brother to Sweet Pursuit who has improved with time and experience, hopefully he will build on this and have a successful season.
Two of the yard’s older horses both made promising starts to their seasons by finishing third, HANDYTALK showing his usual speed at Windsor while SIR RODERIC showed some enthusiasm at Leicester before getting tired in the closing stages. While at Kempton, PUZZLE CACHE ran a much better race in her first handicap, staying on strongly inside the final furlong to finish fourth and should continue to progress with experience.
While the yard has not had a winner, Pat rode his second of the year as he steered Steelriver to success at Wolverhampton and hopefully it’s a springboard to further success which will see him get back his Gentleman Amateur Title!