Racehorse trainer Sussex
Happy New Year to all our readers. Boxing Day was a little bit quieter than expected as a few of the possible participants appeared elsewhere the week before, but we got a really good run from CLONDAW ROBIN at Fontwell. In testing conditions he shaped as if a success was a possibility coming off of…
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Highlight of the week, (mostly) crushing all the agonies of Monday, came twenty-four hours later, when GOLD CLAREMONT comfortably won the long distance handicap chase at Fakenham. Her love of soft ground was accommodated by the Norfolk weather on raceday and Sean gave her a very canny ride to avoid the most chopped up parts…
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Was it only this time last month that the weather seemed quite reasonable for the time of year? Is this the right time of year for rhetorical questions? We took a couple of runners to a very windy Market Rasen, where the going was not the glutinous mess that the advance report implied, but was…
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After a spell of encouraging runs all round, the outings around the end of November were notable for not all turning out to be the steps forward expected. GODOT got bogged down in the copious mud at Southwell, BACKINFORGLORY found the lesser sogginess at Lingfield still a bit too taxing (she looks like good ground…
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Into winter with a winner! The goods were delivered by BIRDMAN BOB at Plumpton, with Philip Armson riding. He had been in good form on the gallops, but we did fear that the race was not enough of a stamina test, being a two miler on good to soft ground. On the railway bend, he…
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A couple of runners this week and both finished third. Wily old veteran SHAW’S CROSS made a very solid debut for us at Fakenham, just being outpaced from the second last, after he had helped scare half the opposition into defeat. He saw out the race to the line, and that should have teed him…
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The November unleashing of the string took a few days extra to begin due to Lingfield being off and then BACKINFORGLORY being balloted out at Huntingdon, where they have marked a busy run of fixtures by starting building work that reduces the stable capacity to fifty-one. And seven race cards do not help chances of…
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Just a quick addition. We have yet to field a runner this autumn as the dry weather meant that we had been unable to get the horses out for an essential couple of gallops on grass. However, recent rain has meant that it has been possible to get over to the hills of Woldingham on…
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A big thank you to the many people who visited for our National Racehorse Week event last Saturday. The weather was very helpful and we hope that everybody who came to Shovelstrode had a good visit – and that it carried on for those that moved off to Lingfield in the afternoon. The horses all…
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It has been a quiet part of summer as our main summer jumper has been off with a minor knock – he should be back around the end of the month. His summer colleague, Harry Hazard, has been retired. Something of an injury magnet throughout his career, he has been sound lately but no longer…
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