It has been a quiet period race wise over Christmas with the horses being on the quiet list. We did run Penangdouble O One at Leicester but he unfortunately made an noise meaning he has a wind problem and will have to be operated on in the near future. We are goingto run him back over the flat and he holds an entry at Wolverhampton on Thursday.
After giving the horses an easy time we have stepped their work back up again and we should be back on the track with some of them in the next 10 days or so.
I hope you had a good Christmas and fingers crossed for a happy and prosperous New Year.
It has been a bit of an up and down month. After Roseneath winning so well last month we hoped we would get a couple more horses in that number one spot. Not to say we have not had some go very close. Sandsofthecolosseum is putting up his as ever very consistant performance with his close 2nd and then ran in a very hot race at Newbury and was 4th. Royaume Bleu ran really well at Uttoxeter and if it had been another couple of strides he would have won. He then went on to Folkestone and ran well enough although I think that race may well have come a little quick for him and he came back with sore shins.
Salut Honore has ran very well again, last time in the mud at Hereford which is not ideal for him but he galloped home. He is now being schooled up over fences and once we have got him spot on he will go Novice Chasing. Dakota Boy ran a very good race up at Wetherby to be 3rd, he had blinkers on for the first time and they seemed to have done the trick on that day although he then ran at Fakenham and did disappoint. Fakenham is a very quick track with sharp bends and some horses do not handle this very well which I think was the case with Dakota Boy.
Some of the horses once they have got to the track have disappointed. They are all very well at home but once they hit the trace they do not seem to be carrying this on. We are currently taking some bloods to check all is well with them in this direction and also putting them onto supplements to give them a boost so hopefully this will do the trick.
Christmas although very busy usually seems to be a bit quieter this year with some of the horses needing a bit longer after their last race and a few waiting for the New Year weekend. We will hopefully have few runners over the next week and Penangdouble O One may make his debut for us.
On the home front Philippa is getting very excited about Father Christmas. This is the first year she really understands what is going on and it is a huge task to keep her away from the presents under the Christmas Tree. George is still to young to understand and I am sure the wrapping papper will be on much more interest. This year Christmas is at other members of the family so a bit of a relief for me and probably everybody else that I will not be doing the cooking!
We will hopefully see some of you over the Christmas period but if not Happy Christmas to everybody and lets hope for lots of success in the New Year.
P.S. Look at the lastest pictures in the Gallery of our schooling morning earlier on in the month. Many thanks to James Bettles again.
Sandofthecolosseum had his first run of the season up at Wetherby. It was his first real run over fences as at the back end of last season he pulled up due to the having whatever the rest of the string had. He is a very slow horse but does just keep galloping. Paddy Brennan gave him a super ride and did not panic when he had to get after him to keep up a bit. He travelled really well and if he had not made a mistake at a couple I think he would have won. He got beaten by 3/4 of a length in the end and we are really chuffed for his syndicate who have been very patient with him.
Pancake also ran at Wetherby and although leading until 3 from home he pulled up in the end which was really disappointing. I think somewhere there is an issue with him but at the moment we cannot get to the bottom of it.
Sound Accord ran in the Southern National yesterday down at Fontwell. He is a very slow horse but does keep galloping. He was there until about 3 out and then pulled up. He needed the run and Tom O'Brien said that although he is 10 years old he feel he still has ability and will come on for the run.
Today we run Farewellatmidnight at Leicester. She has hopefully come on from her last run but she does take a lot of getting fit and will come on again after this run.
This morning we had Paul Maloney and Jimmy McCarthy in to school. Jimmy schooled Dinarius who is by no means the easiest ride but schooled well and we are very happy with him. He does have an entry at Ascot this week but I think the ground may well be to quick as there is not any rain forecast. Other entries this week include Dakota Boy, Royaume Bleu, Salut Honore, Roseneath, Rif, Hanahoe, Bank City and Saint Denis. It could be busy however if we do not get any rain it be completely the other way and we will be quiet so keep watching the forecast.
Everybody breathed a big sigh of relief yesterday as Roseneath crossed the line in the 3.10pm at Hereford first. It has been a long time since we have been in the winners enclosure with all the problems we had last year with the virus and with Roseneath not just winning but flying past the post in front in such a positive way it has given everybody a boost. It proves he is over what ever he had last year and hopefully the rest of the string are all feeling as well as he was yesterday.
Today however is another day and we have Lilac Belle and Hanahoe going to Lingfield. Lilac Belle is having her first run back after her wind op in the summer and will have a handicap mark after todays run hopefully. Hanahoe is a horse we really like and he is having his first run for his new syndicate, A Group Of Eight. He has not run for over a year, firstly he needed a wind op after his run last year and then when he was ready to run he was sick along with the rest of the yard so we could not run him at the back end of the last season. He does get quite on his toes so hopefully he keeps his cool today and runs well.
Rif and Lord Kennedy go off down to Exeter tomorrow. Rif is having his first run over fences and hopefully will jump as well as he does at home.
After finally have some rain we also hope to run Sandofthecolosseum, Pancake and Sound Accord at the weekend so busy times ahead.
We have had a slight change around in the new Racing Club. We have had to replace Inthesettlement with Blinka Me and have also added our new horse Penangdouble O One to the Club which is all very exciting, so we are up to our three horses and it should not be to long before we have a runner.
It is a very frustrating time at the moment with the lack of rain. We did manage to run Soutine at Fakenham on Friday where the ground was ok. We had hoped for him to be placed but after leading for the majority of the race he could not quicken away with the winner and ended up galloping on at the one pace. Although a little disappointing in one way we were pleased. He did gallop onto the line and was obviously healthy which after last season is really good news. Tom O'Brien also said he would have been 2nd if he had used different tactics and dropped him in rather than taking on the leader so really once you have dissected the race we have learn't a lot about Soutine and think he will be better over a trip.
We have horses entered everywhere over the next week but unfortunately the weather is going to be a big player as to them running or not. Nautical Approach was due to go to Haydock tomorrow which was soft ground last week and they have had rain however, the going is now good, good to firm in places and it is just not worth taking the risk.
Salut Honore hopefully goes down to Fontwell on Thursday and Lord Kennedy, Farewellatmidnight, Lilac Belle and Hanahoe all hold entries at Uttoxeter on Friday. With no significant rain forecast it does not seem as if they will get a run. Hanahoe is also entered at Ascot on Saturday and Huntingdon on Sunday along with Pancake and Lord Kennedy.
Whilst we are not racing we are managing to take horses away for racecourse gallops. Today we made the merry trip up the M6 to Wolverhampton with Sound Accord, Farewellatmidnight and Bankcity. The all worked really well. Sound Accord would obviously be a lot slower than the other two but it did him good to have a good gallop over two miles. Bank City is growing up all of the time and worked well and quickened away up the final straight, so we are really pleased with him and just need some rain for him to run.
Other news other than horsey is new Puppy Otter is settling in well. Now we have a three way battle on our hands for the toys between Philippa, George and Otter. Otter is quicker than the other two but Phillippa shouts louder! Poor Gin has had to regain her childhood which she seems to embraced so mayhem reigns again in the Hales household!
Hopefully we will soon have some race news for you.
An exciting few days lay ahead. Tomorrow we hopefully run Nautical Approach at Uttoxeter. We are slightly worried about the ground so we will walk it when we get there and as long as it is good ground he runs. Paul Maloney rides and Naughty seems in fine form so he should run well.
Tomorrow is final declaration stage for our two runners in France, Dakota Boy and Blinka Me. Declarations across the water are a little different from here where you have two or three stages to pull your horse out rather than the one we have hear. They hopefully should both get in there races although in Blinka's race there will be 8 places left with a possible 24 horses trying to fill them. We should know by lunchtime tomorrow how the ground lies. We are going to use a good conditional jockey who rides for one of the top trainers in France. We would have like to have used an English jockey but the French obviously know the French courses which is a big plus.
The lorry will be leaving on Friday to France on the night crossing and will be returning on Sunday on the night crossing. Hopefully we will have some good news to report.
Yesterday we took Soutine, Lord Kennedy and Bank City to Wolverhampton. They all worked well especially Soutine who holds an entry at Plumpton on Monday but we will need some rain for him to run.
Cool Strike has come out of his race on Sunday absolutely fine. Although we had hoped he would have been placed I think if he had been jumped out and made the running as instructed he may well have been. One thing that was pleasing is he galloped to the line which at the end of last season none of the horses were doing so hopefully things are back on track.
Though it has been lovely to have an Indian summer we are desperate for rain. All of the horses are ready to run and seem in really good form. Paul Maloney was in this morning schooling some of the horses which included Salut Honore, Pancake, Farewellatmidnight, Dakota Boy, Regional Counsel and Saint Denis. It was only a very gentle schooling session due to the ground but we were very pleased with all of them.
Regional Counsel has an entry at Worcester on Thursday but after speaking to a few people the ground will probably be to firm unless we have some rain.
We are gearing up to go to France with a couple of horses on 16th October. Unfortunately we have not had a chance to get over without horses so it will be a learning curve for both us and the horses. We are trying to get passports for the children at the moment as it will be easier to take them than find a babysitter for the weekend but it just depends how quickly the passport office are working at the moment.
We have a new horse in the Racing Club called Inthesettlement. A 6 year old grey mare who was 2nd in a good bumper at Aintree last year when in training with Donald McCain so we should have some fun with her along with Dakota Boy.
The fantastic Open Day photographs are now available to view on James Bettles website. If you click onto our gallery and then onto the link you will see all of the photographs. James as ever has done a superb job and if you are interested in purchasing any of them please contact James directly.
What a fantastic day we had yesterday. At 9am I thought we were about to have a repeat of last year's weather but slowly the black clouds drifted away and the sun even tried to pop its head out.
We started the parade about 11.45am with a back up microphone this year which I thought at one point we may have to call upon but we managed to get away with it. All of the horses seemed to be very much on their toes which is a really good news from one point of view as they are obviously feeling fit and healthy but not quite such good news for the lads and lasses leading up yesterday. Worst behaved were Bank City and Saint Denis. Banksey can be forgiven as he has not had many outings never having raced but Denis who has already run a few times could be first viewed as his head appeared over the hedge as he stood on his back legs about ten times in a row! Everybody some how managed to survive and we all retreated to the safety of the marquee for lunch.
As most of you we are trying to set up the new £50 per month racing syndicate. We had a huge amount of interest and hopefully we will get to the 3 horses we are aiming to get into the club. We are also now syndicating Hanahoe and are well on the way to selling 1/2 of him so if you are interested please shout now. There is also only 1 share left in Pancake so call us quickly if you interested. Just pay the training fees for now until he runs and then you have the option to buy a share after he has won!
Really good to see so many of you yesterday and look forward to seeing you all soon if not at the yard maybe on the racetrack.
Now the Open Day is behind us and all focus is on the forthcoming season with our first runners hopefully in about 4 weeks time so we will have more frequent news updates.
Last weekend Alex's sister, Henny, got married and we held the reception here at Trafford Bridge. It was quite a hectic few day with the marquee going up on Thursday and Friday various members of family and friends assisting in turning a white tent into a beautiful setting for a wedding. The forecast seemed fine with an odd shower predicted for mid afternoon. The weather followed the prediction and about half an hour before Henny was due to leave the house the heavens opened but luckily stopped just before she left.
Philippa was one of the bridesmaids which I am sure I was as nervous about that as Henny was about getting married. She had been very well behaved at Uncle Bens wedding in May and surely she could not be an angel again. True she was not an angel and rather noisy but we did prevent her from bolting around the church during the ceremony so that was one thing. Henny looked beautiful and the day was perfect. I think we had one of the latest nights we have had for a long time when we finally hit our pillows at 5am only to rise again at 7.30am after being woken by a raring to go Philippa again.
After a lovely lunch with about 30 of Henny's friends on Sunday it was clear up time and by the end of the day I think we were all exhausted but well worth it.
Most of the horses are now back with Sound Accord returning on Saturday from Andrew Cohens where he has been doing his road work. He looks really well and has definitely put on a good amount of condition over the last few months. The rest of the string are all looking really well and all going according to plan. Preparations are now nearly complete for the Open Day on the 4th, though we had a few techinical hitches with all of the table and chairs which we usually use having been sold so will have to do a bit of scouting around to find some more. Fingers crossed the weather this year may be kind.