Karate Kid Day Update
Yes, today marks the 64th birthday of Ralph Macchio, best known for starring as the Karate Kid, but quietly exceeding that excellence when playing Eugene Martone in the film “Crossroads” and Bill Gambini in “My Cousin Vinny.”
Which brings us neatly to the subject of triumph against adversity as yesterday at Plumpton BIRDMAN BOB won over fences for the first time, defying seven months off and a slightly burly appearance in the process. Great stuff by Birdie and Caoilin’s note was that the horse made the job quite easy by outjumping the oppo at nearly every fence. Even when he got in close to one in the back straight, he merely inspired the others to mimic him. Hopefully, this can be the shape of things to come for Birdie.
A couple of pictures of the hero of the hour (Birdman Bob, not Ralph Macchio) that show the transformation from being “all about that action, boss” pre-race…
…to quiet satisfaction once the job was completed.
In the first race on the same day SUZY WOOD gave us a great delight by finishing third. On her hurdles debut she had got a bit over excited, run herself into the ground and picked up an injury when falling. Despite the risk of being a bit jazzed up after nine months off, she was much calmer this time, settling just off the back and picking up rivals one by one after descending the hill. A very encouraging step in the right direction. A long step, as the picture below implies.
The final runner on the card was EVERYONESGAME (who is for sale), making his debut for us and finishing fourth. Freddie Mitchell rode this time and he reported that the horse got a touch outpaced at the bottom of the hill and would come on for the run. There was an element too of being messed about by the loose horse, but it would be brave to say that it cost more than one finishing place. Everyonesgame celebrated his Shovelstrode debut by insisting that the famous poster from Reservoir Dogs be recreated, and that we all refer to him as “Mr. Chesnut.”
The only other runners since the last update have been TROPICAL SPEED, who posted a solid fourth at Stratford at the end of October (although it was mildly annoying to be pipped for third in the final five yards of the race), and FLEMEN’S TIPPLE. Unfortunately for us, but probably not for himself, Tip was again not up for a significant athletic event and we decided post-race to retire him. He will be staying at Shovelstrode.
There are some further entries this week. EPHYRA and SOMKIYR are declared to make their debuts for us at Nottingham on Wednesday. And on Sunday, MONANSUNU is entered for the bumper at Sandown. Hopefully the ground will hold up for him, because in all of November, the only bumpers in the south-east are this one, a Newbury race and two at Ascot. The BHA added a bumper via their blank race policy, where some meetings have a slot that is filled by a race that there appears to be demand for at the time, rather than decided well in advance. This extra bumper is at…Hexham! In November there were already bumpers at Carlisle (twice), Newcastle, Catterick, Hexham (again), Sedgefield, Doncaster and Wetherby.
Also, please note that every update and blog entry starts with the idea of trying to keep film references to a minimum, but then the horses do something that makes it difficult to comply.