No complaints about this week at all (thus far, anyway). It was very, very windy earlier in the week, which wasn't very nice at all, even though the heavy rains which accompanied the gales elsewhere didn't show up here. But once the winds dropped (and they were really only a problem on Monday) the weather has been really pleasant. Call it the best type of autumn weather, or call it a mini-Indian summer - either way we've had three really nice days now. Tuesday dawned lovely, which was particularly nice after how bracing the previous day had been. This was particularly good as we had my At
The Races colleague Gina Bryce (if, as a very occasional guest presenter, I can call a regular presenter a colleague) riding out, so it was very nice that her first morning in our string was a fine one. She was very favoured by being allowed to ride one of my hacks, Alcalde - although admittedly it was as much the fact that I was due to head down to Folkestone and consequently couldn't ride all my usual hacks as any plan to give her the best mounts. Anyway, I observed Alcalde through Ethics Girl's ears for once, rather than riding him, as you can work out from this second photograph. Gina rode two lots before going to a meeting at the TBA - and if she enjoyed riding Alcalde as much as I enjoy riding him, I hope that she'll have headed off to the meeting feeling that the day had started well.
Ethics Girl was actually the only horse whom I rode because I left for Folkestone mid-morning. Things worked out perfectly for the trip. As I said, the winds had got up here without bringing much rain, but in the south-east they had brought nearly an inch over the previous three days. It was so bright and breezy on Tuesday that I was a bit worried that the good to soft going might dry out, but realistically it was not going to go faster than good (and I was wanting a bit of cut in the ground to run Rhythm Stick, as outlined in the previous chapter) - but, after we'd arrived at Folkestone
when there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sky darkened and the track copped a few very heavy showers as the afternoon went on. Thus the ground, which was in terrific condition and could have been described as 'perfect jumping ground', was fine for us come the last race. As I'd said, Rhythm Stick seemed to have made the hoped-for physical progress over his spell and during his subsequent return-to-fitness - but, even so, that certainly couldn't have been taken as being a guarantee of victory first-up. As it was, the horse won fairly readily. He looked in a bit of trouble two thirds of the way through the race, but that's his wont anyway - and, having gone around the inside all the way
under a typically faultless Jim Crowley ride, he was able to take the gap when it appeared in the straight, quickening nicely to pass the post three lengths clear, and to prick his ears happily as he was eased down, as this paragraph's first photograph shows - and then to survey the scene of his triumph serenely afterwards, once the sunshine had returned. So that was excellent, for many reasons. It's not often that the theory becomes the practice (as I say, it's easy enough to say that an immature horse will come back from a spell improved, but far rarer to find that that is exactly what has happened, because all too often
things don't run as smoothly as one would like to think that they should). That was the horse's fourth consecutive win, and I'd never previously trained a horse to win four in a row - three in a row has been infrequent enough. And an extra dimension of satisfaction was that fact that, as well as remarking in the previous chapter that he had been seeming an improved horse (and also pointing out the good form of Chris Wall's stable, which duly landed a double that day), I'd also given this horse as my 'Horse to Follow' for the season to a journalist back in the spring who was wanting to compile a column for his paper. I'd pointed out that they'd have to wait a while before following him, but I just hope that he and some of his readers might have borne that recommendation in mind six months later!
We've had another couple of lovely days since then, and today, as well as providing a beautiful dawn (seen from the stable yard at the start of the day, and then from Kadouchski's back half an hour or so later on the way up the side of Long Hill, with Henry Cecil's string coming out of the sun towards us - with Frankel and Shane Featherstonehaugh second of those horses, not that you'd know that from looking at the picture) and an very pleasant day, has given us further cause for cheer. Hannah had a ride for Peter Salmon in the apprentices' race at Pontefract this afternoon and finished a close second
at 14/1, which was good - while even better was the result of the selling nursery at Yarmouth. Exactly a year ago, the Yarmouth September Meeting saw Iva suffer her very badly broken leg in the stalls -but today she went there for a far happier result, riding the Jane Chapple-Hyam-trained Coach Montana to a 20/1 victory. This win couldn't have been more deserved. She's only had maybe ten rides since finally getting the all-clear to resume race-riding in June, the closest she'd come prior to today being when she finished a close second on Saloon at Wolverhampton a week or so ago. Anyway, today's success was just a really good result. What a difference a year makes.
No complaints about this week at all (thus far, anyway). It was very, very windy earlier in the week, which wasn't very nice at all, even though the heavy rains which accompanied the gales elsewhere didn't show up here. But once the winds dropped (and they were really only a problem on Monday) the weather has been really pleasant. Call it the best type of autumn weather, or call it a mini-Indian summer - either way we've had three really nice days now. Tuesday dawned lovely, which was particularly nice after how bracing the previous day had been. This was particularly good as we had my At
The Races colleague Gina Bryce (if, as a very occasional guest presenter, I can call a regular presenter a colleague) riding out, so it was very nice that her first morning in our string was a fine one. She was very favoured by being allowed to ride one of my hacks, Alcalde - although admittedly it was as much the fact that I was due to head down to Folkestone and consequently couldn't ride all my usual hacks as any plan to give her the best mounts. Anyway, I observed Alcalde through Ethics Girl's ears for once, rather than riding him, as you can work out from this second photograph. Gina rode two lots before going to a meeting at the TBA - and if she enjoyed riding Alcalde as much as I enjoy riding him, I hope that she'll have headed off to the meeting feeling that the day had started well.
Ethics Girl was actually the only horse whom I rode because I left for Folkestone mid-morning. Things worked out perfectly for the trip. As I said, the winds had got up here without bringing much rain, but in the south-east they had brought nearly an inch over the previous three days. It was so bright and breezy on Tuesday that I was a bit worried that the good to soft going might dry out, but realistically it was not going to go faster than good (and I was wanting a bit of cut in the ground to run Rhythm Stick, as outlined in the previous chapter) - but, after we'd arrived at Folkestone 
when there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sky darkened and the track copped a few very heavy showers as the afternoon went on. Thus the ground, which was in terrific condition and could have been described as 'perfect jumping ground', was fine for us come the last race. As I'd said, Rhythm Stick seemed to have made the hoped-for physical progress over his spell and during his subsequent return-to-fitness - but, even so, that certainly couldn't have been taken as being a guarantee of victory first-up. As it was, the horse won fairly readily. He looked in a bit of trouble two thirds of the way through the race, but that's his wont anyway - and, having gone around the inside all the way 
under a typically faultless Jim Crowley ride, he was able to take the gap when it appeared in the straight, quickening nicely to pass the post three lengths clear, and to prick his ears happily as he was eased down, as this paragraph's first photograph shows - and then to survey the scene of his triumph serenely afterwards, once the sunshine had returned. So that was excellent, for many reasons. It's not often that the theory becomes the practice (as I say, it's easy enough to say that an immature horse will come back from a spell improved, but far rarer to find that that is exactly what has happened, because all too often 
things don't run as smoothly as one would like to think that they should). That was the horse's fourth consecutive win, and I'd never previously trained a horse to win four in a row - three in a row has been infrequent enough. And an extra dimension of satisfaction was that fact that, as well as remarking in the previous chapter that he had been seeming an improved horse (and also pointing out the good form of Chris Wall's stable, which duly landed a double that day), I'd also given this horse as my 'Horse to Follow' for the season to a journalist back in the spring who was wanting to compile a column for his paper. I'd pointed out that they'd have to wait a while before following him, but I just hope that he and some of his readers might have borne that recommendation in mind six months later!
We've had another couple of lovely days since then, and today, as well as providing a beautiful dawn (seen from the stable yard at the start of the day, and then from Kadouchski's back half an hour or so later on the way up the side of Long Hill, with Henry Cecil's string coming out of the sun towards us - with Frankel and Shane Featherstonehaugh second of those horses, not that you'd know that from looking at the picture) and an very pleasant day, has given us further cause for cheer. Hannah had a ride for Peter Salmon in the apprentices' race at Pontefract this afternoon and finished a close second
at 14/1, which was good - while even better was the result of the selling nursery at Yarmouth. Exactly a year ago, the Yarmouth September Meeting saw Iva suffer her very badly broken leg in the stalls -but today she went there for a far happier result, riding the Jane Chapple-Hyam-trained Coach Montana to a 20/1 victory. This win couldn't have been more deserved. She's only had maybe ten rides since finally getting the all-clear to resume race-riding in June, the closest she'd come prior to today being when she finished a close second on Saloon at Wolverhampton a week or so ago. Anyway, today's success was just a really good result. What a difference a year makes.
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