We had a busy Saturday before Christmas with runners at Haydock and Ascot, and I was thrilled to see Super Survivor winning at Haydock under a great ride from Gavin. Super has been part of our team for several years now, and our travelling head girl (Alex) rides him each day, so it was wonderful to see him winning off a career high mark as he rises 10 years old. On the same card, A Path To Ronda was unlucky when narrowly beaten into 3rd in the Listed mares novice. She got baulked at the last, and then cut off in her run to the line. Frustrating as it was to be 3rd, she picked up some valuable “Black Type”, and will now head to the Grade 2 Jane Seymour at Sandown without a penalty. Meanwhile, Ga Law ran well under top weight at Ascot, and now we can campaign him in veterans’ races.
We had two more exciting bumper winners just before Christmas. Wilde’s Legacy showed an electric turn of foot to win at Lingfield, when making his racecourse debut. He has a lovely pedigree by the King George winner, Poets Word, and out of an unraced sister to a couple of decent flat winners including at Group level. He jumps really well and looks another smart recruit to our team. He will head to the Listed race at Newbury in February next, on route to the Champion Bumper. He is for sale!
I was very impressed with Milpat who won a bumper at Huntingdon under Gavin for the McNeill and Stone families. He had been 2nd on his debut in France in a race that usually throws up nice horses, and we like this chap a lot. He is only 3 years old, so we’ll give him all the time he needs and being an AQPS type, he should keep improving as he grows and can hopefully develop into a high class novice hurdler next season, and he is certainly a chaser for the future.
Having won the Grade 2 John Francome novice chase at Newbury at the Hennessey meeting, we were looking forward to seeing Wendigo stepping into Grade 1 company at Kempton on Boxing Day for the Kauto Star novice chase. He ran a blinder to be 3rd but the combination of drying ground, on a speed track counted against him, and he certainly prefers to go left-handed too. So, I think he has done remarkably well to be beaten only 3 lengths by a smart winner, who had the run of the race from the front. It should be a different proposition at Cheltenham in March!
Tiptoptim was also 3rd in a Grade 1 over the Christmas period when following the route we took with Wendigo last year in the Challow Hurdle at Newbury. He was beaten less than 2 lengths, and only a nose from being 2nd! Having been outpaced when the pace of the race lifted around the top bend, he stayed on strongly to the line. I should imagine he might be the type to head to the Grade 1 staying novice at Aintree – the race we won last year with Julius des Pictons.
Unfortunately, Lady Tadita lost her unbeaten status when 2nd in a Listed contest at Taunton. The tight track on drying ground just caught her a bit flat footed, but she stayed on well to earn herself some invaluable “Black Type”.
We’ve been knocking on the door in Graded and Listed races this Christmas, which has been a bit frustrating, and the lack of rain hasn’t helped. However, we are lucky to have so many nice horses, running in so many nice races…..it’s only time before they start hitting the back of the net.
Of our other recent runners, Move With The Beat looked to be in command when falling at the last under Izzi, thankfully both are ok……but it’s always frustrating. Only the Bold was 4th in the Mandarin at Newbury, poor old Git Maker was left standing at the start in the Welsh National, and couldn’t get back involved on the drying good ground (unheard of at Chepstow in December!). Whilst, Audacious Annie ran a cracker at Kempton, where she looked the likely winner at the last, but for a mistake there as her reserves of stamina came up short over 3m.
So, we head into the New Year having had the most incredible year: 87 winners with a 27% strike rate, and 7 top flight winners including our first Grade 1 winner, Julius des Pictons; Grade 2 winners, Wendgio and Hollygrove Cha Cha; Listed winner, La Conquiere; Premier handicap winners Laurens Bay (EBF Final); Only The Bold (Summer Cup) and Colonel Harry (Grand Sefton over the National fences).
Happy New Year everyone, let’s make 2026 even better than 2025.
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