Monday 10th February 2020 - Trials and tribulations.

Sometimes the luck falls your way, and sometimes it doesn’t.  Having had the most wonderful season to date with 43 winners on the board including several listed winners and The Grand Sefton, we’ve certainly had our fair share of luck.  However, over the last few weeks things haven’t really gone our way. 

I am pleased to report that Thebannerkingrebel is ok after the cavalry charge in the Betfair Hurdle on Saturday, where he held every chance jumping the last but folded inside the final furlong.  Unfortunately, his wind has caught him out again, and he’ll need that looked at before we are to run again this season.  He has had wind issues before but thankfully we’ve kept them under control but it has risen its ugly head at the wrong point of the season as far as The Cheltenham Festival is concerned.  We’ll have to see where we are after he’s had the op and then readjust our sights.

Pacify has won 5 of his 6 starts over hurdles this season over 2 miles and was 2^nd in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham in November.  After a mid-winter break, I was looking forward to stepping him up in trip this spring where we thought we might be able to unlock some more improvement.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case as he was beaten into 4^th in the Sydney Banks Listed Novice hurdle at Huntingdon last week.  We’ll have to discuss where we go from here……

Of our other recent runners, Timcoda was in the process of running a nice race when he tipped up at the 2^nd last at Uttoxeter on Saturday.   We may drop him back in trip on this soft ground, and he’s surely not too far away from getting his head in front.  We went in search of some ‘Black Type’ with Early Morning Rain in the listed race at Warwick, where although she ran to her mark, she missed out on a top 3 finish…..

I look forward to a change of luck in the coming weeks…….