The climax of our trip to Woodbine was rather frustrating and disappointing.  Poor old Bated Breath, yet again denied a deserved Group 1 victory by a neck. His wide draw was not an advantage although the winner Regally Ready came from the stall inside him, and although the Racing Post were determined to describe the ground as firm, there had been nearly an inch of rain in the preceding few days and the turf was definitely soft.  This was confirmed by the race time being a second slower than Bated Breath had run at Haydock against Dream Ahead. The winner Regally Ready was trained by Cash Asmussen's brother Steve and had at least won two Group 3 sprints this year at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita.  The first thing Garrett Gomez said was that he loved Bated Breath and thought that he was a really nice horse but that he was unable to handle the going.  We will see how he comes out of this race before deciding whether he is a possible for the Hong Kong Sprint on the 11th December where he will at least encounter fast ground, but he will have to contend with the specialist sprinters from Australia.  

Sea Of Heartbreak's run in the E P Taylor Stakes was a huge mystery and an even bigger disappointment. Having missed the break, Garrett allowed her to trail the field and unfortunately she had an impossible task to make up so much ground from the home turn. At one stage, I thought there must be something wrong and that it would be impossible for her to mount a challenge. She did  however in her normal gutsy style run on really well down the centre of the track to be beaten a length and a half. Perhaps we were unlucky to be denied a bigger prize of  and the opportunity to make her at least Group 1 placed which would have added to her value. She also would have preferred much faster ground.  I was pleased with our runners who both looked and behaved brilliantly in the proceedings. They are due to travel back this evening and will deserve several days rest on their return.

Genki ran a bit flat on Saturday and deserves a break before resuming normal play in 2012. His school report continues to read well having won another £77,000 this year winning a Listed race, Group 3 and being Group 1 placed twice and in my opinion, his best effort came at Haydock when he was beaten a length and a half by the mighty Dream Ahead. He has always been a pleasure to train and I hope that he can continue next year to give enjoyment.

Bated Breath in the isolation barn at Woodbine

Woodbine 

As I was in Canada,  I was unable to see either of yesterdays runners at Haydock,  but I gather that Mince was beaten a nose and perhaps might have won in another stride or two.  She handled the ground but it was not ideal and the return to 6 furlongs will suit her better in the future.  Tantamount  ran an encouraging race before getting tied in the very testing conditions and I hope that he may have one more race before the end of the season.

Poor old Genki goes back to Ascot again and I hope this time, the race will be run to suit him more than a fortnight ago. As I have often said in the past he seems to be in great form, fresh and full of himself. There would appear to be more pace in the race today and I hope that he can run on through the field to get amongst the excellent prize money.  This will be his last race of the year and I hope he will be able to return to training next year.

Genki

Bated Breath and Sea of Heartbreak continue to be in great form and enjoying their stay away from home. They are in a barn with the other European runners and "mixing it" with horses from Aidan O'Brien, John Gosden, Luca Cumani as well as Robert Collet. Yesterday they went out on the turf track and had a good spin round the bend before striding on up the straight to the winning post. We are lucky to have such an experienced and superstar jockey as Garrett Gomez riding for us tomorrow as both horses have rather wide draws. There are 13 runners in Bated Breath's race in the Nearctic Stakes, Gr 1 and he is drawn 11 towards the outside. There is a short run to the first bend where jockeyship will be at a premium. Sea Of Heartbreak is really relaxed and enjoying all the attention in her new surroundings. She is drawn 10 of the 11 runners in the E P Taylor Stakes, Gr 1 which should not be a problem over 10 furlongs.

Tantamount who is a half brother to Cry Fury, by Juddmonte stallion Observatory (sire of Twice Over) runs for the first time in the 3.35pm at Haydock. He is a big immature horse and is likely to come into his own next year over a mile and a half. Not sure whether any two year olds will enjoy the going at Haydock.

Mince having won her Nursery at Pontefract so embarrassingly easily has received the full knee jerk reaction from the two year old handicapper as she has been raised 17lbs to 87. Today she runs with a 6lb penalty, so in theory has 11 lbs in hand. Only time will tell if he is right and naturally I am concerned about the going for her. At this stage of their lives, most two year olds have not worked or run on soft/heavy ground so I suppose we are paying our money and taking our chance, but there is no such thing as a certainty.

Mince

 

For the majority of the race Deceptive looked like an odds on shot and relaxed but unfortunately she seemed to "tie up" in the closing stages to finish 4th. I guess it is always possible when horses run so soon after a long break, that she can have a "bounce" factor. It is never an exact science but she appeared to be in good form and her last opportunity to run again before the sales.No runners today but Genki is being declared to run in the Sprint at Ascot on Saturday.

Steve Raymont reported that both Bated Breath and Sea of Heartbreak have had a really good journey and were happy and relaxed when they had a trot round at Woodbine on the course yesterday. The ground is firm but unfortunately there is plenty of rain forecast.

We had mixed fortunes at Leicester yesterday with Newnton Lodge being a big disappointment. He seemed to be the first horse beaten and was a little distressed (blowing too hard) after the race. He appears to be sound and normal this morning but quite clearly he ran too bad to be true and with no explanation so far.  I was pleased with Moidore who at least finished his race off to more effect than he had done at Newbury and he was badly pushed out on the bend which probably cost him a length or two.  He ran on well up the straight and would have finished 2nd behind the easy winner had he not met with interference and he appears to be progressing in the right direction.

Deceptive runs this evening at Kempton from a good draw and would in theory be 7lbs in hand of her future handicap mark so fingers crossed she can deliver again.

Deceptive

I had news this morning that Sea Of Heartbreak and Bated Breath had a good journey and have arrived safe and sound at Woodbine overnight.

It was great to have a winner at Windsor yesterday with Tiger Cub winning in good style with Richard Kingscote who completed a double. Tiger Cub should appeal to buyers at the forthcoming Horses In Training sale as I understand her dam Clouded Leopard is in foal to Galileo. Priceless Jewel was very immature and was making alot of noise before and after the race and demonstrated her greenness during the race. She only lost 3 kilos and she will hopefully return to the races fairly soon as I am sure there is plenty of improvement to come. Loxton Lad perhaps was not suited to Windsor as the race was slowed up on the bend and he rather lost his position.

Today we have got two runners at Leicester and it will be interesting to see if Newnton Lodge can step up on his debut performance when he won at Sandown.  On BHA ratings he will have to show some considerable improvement but he is in good form.

Moidore disappointed us at Newbury for no apparent reason, but he is still mentally very immature and may not quite be ready to show us his true colours.

Moidore

The Handicapper has raised Mince by 17lbs to 87 for her facile victory at Pontefract and all being well she will run off a rating of 76 at Haydock on Friday in a 5 furlong Nursery. Deceptive was raised  13lbs for her easy win at Kempton last week and will run with a 6lb penalty tomorrow evening which in theory means she has 7lbs in hand. 

The Cesarewitch was a bit of a disappointment with Keys perhaps doing a little bit too much early on from his wide draw, he was also badly struck into on his near hind which will require a bit of treatment.  There are immediate plans for him but I would imagine that he would start schooling fairly soon with Marcus Foley to see whether he is going to be a decent hurdler or not.

The horses leave this morning via Amsterdam on their way to Woodbine. All being well they will arrive at Woodbine on Tuesday evening. Both Bated Breath and Sea of Heartbreak seem to be in good form, although I am  not sure I like the forecast of rain over there later this week.

We have three runners today at Windsor with Priceless Jewel making her debut in the 6 furlong maiden race. She is a half sister to Tante Rose by one of my favourite stallions, Selkirk.  She is a late foal and went through a growing spurt during the summer but her work is progressing well and I hope that she will put up an encouraging performance for the future. 

Priceless Jewel

Tiger Cub runs in the first division of the mile Nursery and I hope she can squeak a win before she goes to the Horses in Training Sale on October 25th. She drops back two furlongs but there are precious few alternative races and if the race had not divided, she would probably have been balloted out.

Tiger Cub

Loxton Lad runs in the 5.40pm where I hope we will see a little more encouragement than we did in his last race at Kempton, where he did not seem to enjoy the kickback.

Loxton Lad

Keys (Ire)  is my first runner in the Cesarewitch, although Orange Hill ridden by Richard Fox won with a very low weight in 1986 and in the process earned £31,000 which means that the prize money has gone up only 3 times in the last 25 years.  Since his win at Ascot in the Brown Jack Stakes in July, it has always been the plan for him to wait for the Cesarewitch. Unfortunately, we had a slight setback with him as he had a dirty scope recently which meant that he missed some work.  He looks well and I was pleased with his final piece of work last Saturday when he worked over a mile and a five furlongs in good style. When there are 34 runners that in theory have an equal chance it would be foolish to predict his finishing position but he is suited by at least two miles and he is a relatively lightly raced gelding who should be capable of further improvement.

Keys (Ire)

 

What a pleasant surprise to see Deceptive win by 7 lengths last night at Kempton. I am not quite sure where she found her new form from but she certainly travelled well and produced a good turn of foot. My idea that she might need the race was patently wrong and I hope that she can run again next week with a penalty either at Kempton or Lingfield.

Deceptive's win took us to 40 winners for the season so far and I hope that there may be a few more before the end.  Our prize money to date in 2011 is over £860,000 which represents an increase of nearly 60% when compared with last year. This is a great result for the yard and I am thrilled for all the people here that have worked so hard  this year and our Christmas celebrations in The Bell should be  memorable.  I found yesterday at Newmarket very frustrating as the yearling market is unbelievably strong with the average and median nearly up 50%  which seemed strange with the worlds financial markets in turmoil.  Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find anybody who wants to spend money but I am hopeful that we might be able to buy something from Book 2 or 3 which start next week.  I am hoping to form some syndicates and will post anything that I buy onto our Horses for Sale page in due course.

Deceptive is our only runner today and runs in the 6.40pm at Kempton. She has had a few issues whilst in training and has not run since mid June,  she is in good form but may need her race today, as she did run rather slowly first time out at Kempton as a two year old.

Deceptive