Recent Runners 30th April – 2nd May
On Saturday (30th of April) Hilltop Ranger made a very promising start to her career at Goodwood over seven furlongs. Taking on the boys at a tricky course as the sole débutante was always going to be a tall order. Hilltop Ranger was a bit sluggish away from the gates and was dropped in at the rear of the field. Showing her inexperience early on she was struggling along at the rear for the first couple of furlongs, however she found her rhythm under a typically excellent ride from Richard Kingscote and gradually got the hang of things at around the halfway point. Sat about five lengths behind the eventual winner when the pace quickened she did well to make up three lengths as the field hit full throttle and certainly looked one for the future. She will get several entries in the coming days as we try to find an opportunity to open her account for the Diskovery Partnership. There are still a couple of shares available for anyone wishing to see some action as an owner in the very near future. Get in touch for more details.
On Monday afternoon (2nd of May) we sent two runners to Windsor. The first was Spring in Kentucky, previously trained in France she had given a lot of trouble at the stalls and was suspended from running from stalls on the flat. The team have done a lot of work with her, particularly Kimberley Van Der Vegt our apprentice. A trip to work with Gary and Craig Witheford at their nearby base and to Lingfield Park for a barrier trial all paid off as the filly loaded with little fuss and stood quietly during the load. Being very much a run to see how she handled the race day and learn a bit more about the filly we weren’t expecting a winner, however no one could have predicted that Frankie Dettori would get run away on the bolting favourite resulting in chaos for behind. As Frankie headed towards the Thames momentarily it looked as if things might work out for the filly as she rounded the bend, effectively in front, however she caught site of Frankie’s errant mount and the flight instinct took over as she veered towards the leader of the herd, going right across the track! Giving up a huge amount of ground not much was learned (although Kimberley may have picked up a few Italian profanities on the wind). The trials and tribulations of racehorses.
Trimoulet made a pleasing start to the his year running over ten furlongs which is probably just a bit sharp for him at this level. He wasn’t given a hard time by Tom Queally as he tired late on after bowling along in front in typical game style to beaten two lengths. He should come on for the run and hopefully his fifth career win is not too far away.