Our trip to Kempton was indeed a pleasant one, largely thanks to the fact that Karma Chameleon ran really well on his first run for us, finishing second behind a horse who clearly was fairly well handicapped. It would be wrong to go overboard about the Baby Doctor's run as we were well beaten and only beat the third horse in a photograph, but even so it was very pleasing and encouraging. Furthermore, over and above where he finished, he confirmed the very positive impression which he had made on his in everything he had been doing at
home, all of which had suggested that he is just a wonderfully honest, straightforward and willing little horse. That, of course, reflects very well not just on the horse himself, but also on the way he had been brought up in his previous stable. I can't overstate how important it is that a racehorse should have a willing and calm nature: if they just get on with things and try to do well, they should fulfill whatever potential they have, but if they don't, they are very unlikely to do so. Soundness, of course, is the key, and he's a sound horse - and it's obviously much easier for a sound horse to be genuine than an unsound horse. So when one's got a sound, genuine
horse, you've always got half a chance. And getting hold of sound, durable horses, funnily enough, can at times seem easier said than done, because a frighteningly high proportion of thoroughbreds really aren't as resilient and sound as they ought to be. So that was good, as was the weather: you wouldn't have known it from these benighted photographs, night having fallen well before our 5.20 post time, but it had been yet another lovely warm sunny day. Similarly tonight (Saturday) we'll be racing under lights with Zarosa at 7.50, but it's a lovely sunny afternoon now, as this photograph (of the view which I enjoyed going up Long Hill AW at the back of a string of four at 9.00 this morning) clearly suggested might be going to be the case.
I wouldn't say that the horses are enjoying this lovely week of weather as much as I am, simply because that would be hard, but they're enjoying it a lot. It's the best of every world for them: as we're into autumn and have had a good amount of rain in the past two or three weeks, the surface of the field is damp soil, rather than dry dirt. So that's great for them as they love it to be muddy for their rolling - but, of course, with muddy ground usually comes miserable conditions above. Not so at present, though: mud on the ground, warm sunshine above, so they
have been in seventh heaven in the afternoons: rolling, rolling, frolicking and rolling again, and then just enjoying the pleasantly warm, sunny conditions. I could bore on about this for ages, but pictures say a thousand words, so these shots of Asterisk (with Kadouchski in the background), Kadouchski and Dr Darcey enjoying themselves in the field yesterday afternoon say it all. When the horses are rolling in the
mud like this every day, it's neither feasible nor sensible to try to ensure that they become spotless every evening, only to get filthy again the following day. The fact that we'd have horses go out at exercise still with some of the previous day's mud in their coats used to raise a few eyebrows, but it's become an accepted fact of Heath life now. And, seeing these photographs, who would wish to deny these horses what is clearly a very special and valued source of daily pleasure?
Our trip to Kempton was indeed a pleasant one, largely thanks to the fact that Karma Chameleon ran really well on his first run for us, finishing second behind a horse who clearly was fairly well handicapped. It would be wrong to go overboard about the Baby Doctor's run as we were well beaten and only beat the third horse in a photograph, but even so it was very pleasing and encouraging. Furthermore, over and above where he finished, he confirmed the very positive impression which he had made on his in everything he had been doing at 
home, all of which had suggested that he is just a wonderfully honest, straightforward and willing little horse. That, of course, reflects very well not just on the horse himself, but also on the way he had been brought up in his previous stable. I can't overstate how important it is that a racehorse should have a willing and calm nature: if they just get on with things and try to do well, they should fulfill whatever potential they have, but if they don't, they are very unlikely to do so. Soundness, of course, is the key, and he's a sound horse - and it's obviously much easier for a sound horse to be genuine than an unsound horse. So when one's got a sound, genuine 
horse, you've always got half a chance. And getting hold of sound, durable horses, funnily enough, can at times seem easier said than done, because a frighteningly high proportion of thoroughbreds really aren't as resilient and sound as they ought to be. So that was good, as was the weather: you wouldn't have known it from these benighted photographs, night having fallen well before our 5.20 post time, but it had been yet another lovely warm sunny day. Similarly tonight (Saturday) we'll be racing under lights with Zarosa at 7.50, but it's a lovely sunny afternoon now, as this photograph (of the view which I enjoyed going up Long Hill AW at the back of a string of four at 9.00 this morning) clearly suggested might be going to be the case.
I wouldn't say that the horses are enjoying this lovely week of weather as much as I am, simply because that would be hard, but they're enjoying it a lot. It's the best of every world for them: as we're into autumn and have had a good amount of rain in the past two or three weeks, the surface of the field is damp soil, rather than dry dirt. So that's great for them as they love it to be muddy for their rolling - but, of course, with muddy ground usually comes miserable conditions above. Not so at present, though: mud on the ground, warm sunshine above, so they 
have been in seventh heaven in the afternoons: rolling, rolling, frolicking and rolling again, and then just enjoying the pleasantly warm, sunny conditions. I could bore on about this for ages, but pictures say a thousand words, so these shots of Asterisk (with Kadouchski in the background), Kadouchski and Dr Darcey enjoying themselves in the field yesterday afternoon say it all. When the horses are rolling in the
mud like this every day, it's neither feasible nor sensible to try to ensure that they become spotless every evening, only to get filthy again the following day. The fact that we'd have horses go out at exercise still with some of the previous day's mud in their coats used to raise a few eyebrows, but it's become an accepted fact of Heath life now. And, seeing these photographs, who would wish to deny these horses what is clearly a very special and valued source of daily pleasure?
No comments:
Post a Comment