19th May Update
A quieter week without any runners which gave me a chance to practice for the annual Surrey Racing Golf Day this week although I don’t think I’ll be in a position to trouble the scorers but we’re really looking forward to welcoming 24 players, including 4 trainers to Silvermere Golf Club on Tuesday. I think this is the most players we have attending so hopefully the weather stays fair and we have a competitive but fun tournament. If anyone is passing the Surrey area around 3pm on the 21st then feel free to pop in for a drink and listen to the tales of woe from the majority of players! The last two holes make or break the round.
We could have a runner this week as Surrey Belle is fine and dandy and she could have an entry at Salisbury evening meeting on Saturday. The 8.30 race is a 1 mile 6 furlong class 5 (0-75) handicap, interestingly with a flip start (like NH racing with a extended tape). Hughie would like to draw a line through her last race as it was her first race back for 180 days and as a result she was a bit fresh. Interestingly afterwards Hughie thought that Billy pushed her forward a little to quick at the start but looking at the comparison with her win at Wolves last year there is an argument that actually he pulled her back too much and didn’t let her run at her own pace which Clifford Lee seemed to, and therefore expending too much energy fighting against the jockey. There are also options for Belle the following week at Doncaster and Nottingham.
Surrey Shadow was entered for Newbury last Friday but Tom thought he would benefit from a few more weeks of training before running. The 3rd and 4th from his debut ran in that race and didn’t frank the form from his debut so that’s given us a bit of a reality check! However, Shadow has sharpened up and is working nicely on the gallops so we look forward to seeing how he performs next time out with the target being a class 2 novice at Doncaster on Saturday June 1st.
Surrey Noir has disappointed in his last two runs and the handicapper dropped him another 2 pounds (so 4 pounds lower from the end if last season) to a new mark of 71. Charlie remains convinced that Noir is a lot better than what he has shown but we felt it prudent to discuss an exit strategy with the syndicate owners, who in the main are less than certain. As with all the flat racing horses the best route (apart from a private sale) to sell a horse are the two Tattersalls Horses in Training sales in July and October. There is a potential third option which would be to enter a claimer in France, of which there are plenty of races and as Noir is French bred, he can compete for better prize money, is eligible for additional French Premiums (up to 60%) and then could be claimed. We have decided to enter Noir into the July sale which doesn’t prohibit him from racing and if we felt before sales day we could get a better return elsewhere we will obviously consider that. The next potential race for him is also at Doncaster on Friday 31st so Doncaster could see 3 SR horses run over the 2 day meeting.
However, the issue we is that the forecast looks pretty dry now and Surrey Belle, Surrey Noir and Surrey Shadow would all benefit from some cut in the ground. Doncaster’s meeting yesterday was run on good to firm so we would need some significant rain for those 3 horses to run there.
Surrey Fire is well but still doing very slow hack canters on Hughie’s gallops, he’s probably not going to be ready to a return to racing before at least July as a cautious approach is rightly taken with him. Surrey Charm is healing slowly and all going well she will be back trotting in 3-4 weeks time, a return to the track at the end of August is still the target.
Surrey Force has been gelded and now back on the gallops, while Surrey Mist is continuing with his light training. It did bring back memories watching the London Gold Cup at Newbury yesterday, what a race that was 2 years ago! https://www.attheraces.com/atrplayer-popout/VOD/1273767/true?showResult=yes
No new news on the NH trio. Also this week there are a number of French Bred horses breezing at Tattersalls Ireland’s sale at the end of the week so we will be keeping an eye on those.
We’re looking forward to seeing the golfers on Tuesday and best wishes to Surrey Belle and connections if she runs at Salisbury on Saturday evening.
Possible races and events
May
Tuesday 21st – Surrey Racing Golf Day – Silvermere Golf Club
Friday 24th – Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale
Saturday 25th – Surrey Belle - Salisbury
Friday 31st – Surrey Noir - Doncaster
June
Saturday 1st – Surrey Shadow & Surrey Belle – Doncaster
Sunday 2nd – Surrey Belle - Nottingham
July
Monday 1st - 2nd – Arqana Breeze Up Sale
Tuesday 9th – 12th Tattersalls July Sale