Hogan’s Height was our first runner in the Grand National and he ran creditably to be 12th of the 40 runners, and interestingly he was 2nd of the English horses home…..so without the Irish he’d have won at this years Cheltenham Festival and been 2nd in the Grand National!
Having won the Grand Sefton last season, it was a shame Covid put paid to the National last year as he had a very interrupted preparation this season, and it was great credit to our team here to get him there and it was a lovely ride from Gavin to get him around to be 12th. It was wonderful to see Rachael Blackmore winning the worlds most famous race, and it was lovely to be part of history, but now we want to make it as opposed to being just a part of it!
Our other runners at the Grand National meeting ran well with Stoney Mountain a fast-finishing 7th in the Grade 3 staying handicap hurdle. He didn’t have any luck in running and was sandwiched around the final bend, but it was good to see him run well and he should be able to make amends in May. Chapmanshype jumped the last with every chance in the 2m4 Grade 3 handicap hurdle but his weight told inside the final furlong and he will now go novice chasing. Whilst, Thistle Do Nicely was forced a bit too wide in the same race, but ran with credit after so long off the track, and she should improve with that run under his belt.
Regrettably Ga Law missed out on the chance of running in the Grade 1 novice chase as he picked up a niggle the week before, and will be on the side-lines for a moment or two.
Of our other recent runners, Spitfire Girl was 2nd on her racecourse debut in a bumper at Plumpton over Easter, and is another youngster who looks to have a nice future ahead of her. College Oak was 3rd under a penalty, and will hopefully defy that before the end of the season, and Howdilyoudo was also 3rd down at Plumpton on her summer seasonal reappearance. Bucko’s Boy looked booked for 2nd at the same meeting but came to grief at the last flight of hurdles. Thankfully both he and Page were fine, and once Bucko bucks up his ideas, he should be winning over hurdles this spring.
Having picked some black type and an elite broodmare rating of 130, Early Morning Rain has earned her right to retire to the broodmare paddocks, and we sent her off after a courageous 4th in the EBF Mares' Novices' Handicap Chase Final at Cheltenham last week. She will be covered by Crystal Ocean in the coming weeks.
As we head into the final few days of the season, we’ll begin to turn a few horses out for their summer holidays, but we’ve a couple of entries left so hopefully we can end the season on a high……
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