We held our first open morning at the beginning of the month – and it seemed to go well. Rather remiss on my part as I found myself double booked and so Mandy & Terry Poulson and Julie Venvell kindly came to hold the fort! We had a nice turnout and hopefully everyone enjoyed the morning.
The open mornings are set up so that anyone who is interested can come and see the horses work and see what goes on at Alne Park! Although we have a very open house visitors policy, not everyone likes to ask about coming, so we thought it was a way of overcoming that. We raised some funds for the air ambulance which is such a great cause, and will be holding our next one on the first Saturday in November.
There is no entry fee so if you would like to come along do feel free, email or call if you would like more information.
My double booking was with Harriet at Osberton horse trials where she and her horse Dargle Looks, aka Bean did the CCI2* - big and scary, they both made light work of it to finish 26th out of 120 starters which included plenty of our top riders. Getting near the end of eventing for the year now and it will be nice to have a few Sundays at home.
The horses on the whole running well without getting into that number one spot. Kitegen was fourth at Fontwell, he made an uncharacteristic howler at the second last otherwise would have been a lot closer – but a good run and not beaten far. Twycross Warrior made his racecourse debut and did not really get his breathing right - tried to do it all in one breath and then unsurprisingly did not get home!
A busy day at Towcester – nice to be back there, but oh dear they do need to get their act together re looking after our staff. The canteen food is dire and usually freezing cold – and no offence but I don’t think the staff in there have a clue!
The track has been ruined by the addition of the dog track, but the plus was that they had made great efforts with the ground which looked lush and green and rode well. It seems that the management have lost some direction, although the Robert Bellamy and the raceday team (canteen excepted) are doing a great job.
The horses ran OK, Jackfield running a big race till two out then got tired and needed the run, as did Spurned Girl. Tara Well ran well in the bumper, but needs the ground softer and also wants further – she will be a fun horse and Charlie was very pleased with her.
Thomas Crapper surrounded by a lot of hype from the press was never a foregone conclusion in a hot novice chase and finished third. He ran well, jumped soundly but was just done for toe by two very decent rivals. Saddened by an abusive phone call from someone who had clearly lost their cash – apparently many trainers get this treatment when they have a beaten favourite – pathetic really when someone can call a trainer foul names but is too scared to say who they are. ‘Get a life’ is the phrase that springs to mind!
Holly was robbed of the turnout with TC, think the judge was looking at the wrong horse, but Kelly and Harriet T both won it with Spurned Girl & Tara Well.
Garrahalish ran a terrible race at Chepstow, but came back with a dirty scope, Kayf Tiger ran well to finish fifth. He is still learning his trade and needs to relax more so that he can get himself into a better rhythm. Sorry not to see Vicky Jameson at the races – she is on box rest at the moment so best wishes to her for a speedy recovery.
The Lion Man ran a super race to finish third at Uttoxeter (BTO for Holly) – good to see the Coopers there who along with Mark their friendly driver had a nice day.
Spurned Girl ran OK at Stratford and Under The Phone made a solid chasing debut at Kempton in a furiously run race – Charlie said that he had never been so fast over fences! UTP jumped soundly and was unlucky that there was no grief in front of him as the first two home looked extremely hairy - I know which one I would rather have been on!
Lots of visitors recently including Mr & Mrs Essex who came on Saturday morning and were our first visitors courtesy of C& D Stable tours. They did come into something of a manic morning so hope they enjoyed it!
Charlie, James Martin, Chris Ward, Connor Smith & Tom O’Brian all in to ride out this week – always a help to have some jockeys in.