Saint Devota’s Day Update
Today’s update commemorates Saint Devota, who is the patron saint of Corsica and Monaco. Her body was being transported from Corsica to North Africa for burial but the boat ended up in Monaco, so she ought also to be the patron saint of poor navigation.
A barmy few days at Shovelstrode since the last update. Note, not balmy, as the weather has been on the unpleasant side and the only ones enjoying it are Clondaw Robin and Privatearing who seem to have decided that they are outdoor horses now and would rather be out in the field come all conditions.
On the subject of navigation, ours has not been poor as the racing front has only taken us to Plumpton, which we are pretty accustomed to finding. It was back from the last meeting being called off and we were instantly pleased to see that happen as new girl LOLA DE MAGNY finished third in the novice hurdle. It was a good show from her on debut for us, shaping like a stayer in the making, which is what she was bought to be. Since her point win, her life has changed quite a lot, moving from Ireland to Britain, from an out and out pointing yard to a licensed yard, from pointing to hurdling and perhaps most of all, from racing solely against other mares to a mixed field. We were very pleased with her start and the picture below suggests that she was just as happy.
We then had to wait until the last race on the card for two more runners and it was another instance where performances deserved better than the final result. SUZY WOOD finished fifth but beaten only two and a half lengths. Turning for home, it appeared she may stay on into third or better, only for her to be edged out in the dash from the last. A really competitive showing, worthy of more. Barely a couple of lengths behind her was EPHYRA, who again handled softish ground better than we feared might be the case. In this case it probably did slow her up enough to prevent being in the mix. Inthe pictures below, both Suzy Wood and Ephyra were keen to double check at the last minute that they were expected to race at what would normally be, for them, dinner time.
Last week, we made a token bid in Tattersalls online sale for a horse to run on the flat for the Secret Circle Racing Club. Thinking that someone was bound to top it, nobody did and we now have winning sprinter BACK BEFORE DARK in the yard, which is very topical given recent events around final races at Cheltenham and Hereford. Her history is not one of great consistency but she puts herself in the mix at regular intervals, so should be good fun to follow for the club.
And finally for this update, the prodigal mare has returned. GOLD CLERMONT is back at Shovelstrode, having not really thrived in a busy yard with over a hundred horses. Now she is here, she can declare herself Duchess of Muck Heap, Queen of Feed Store or Empress of the Solar System. We don’t care, it is just great to have her back, and as a result we can be less perturbed if the wet weather persists.
{Can she declare herself to be Gold Claremont, because my spellchecker is quite insistent about that being her name? – Ed.}