21st May update
A very busy last week – a great golf tournament, three runners, although a little disappointing not to pick up a place or two, and super to meet 20+ owners at Hughie’s yesterday morning.
Working backwards ... Doncaster Racecourse looked fantastic in the sun yesterday and we were excited about Surrey Noir’s first run on turf although we didn’t think he’d beat Almaty Star, the short priced 85 rated favourite who was only recently edged out by a horse rated 98. He did beat him ! Unfortunately he got beaten by 4 others finishing 4 lengths back in 5th. He seemed to be unbalanced by the firmer ground, changing his legs a number of times and maybe the race was a little too quick for him so a step up to 7 furlongs could suit. Charlie though that despite Noir being a big horse he still looks weak in his frame. He will improve as he matures physically and win some decent races given time. Surrey Noir came out of the race fine which is great and now we wait the handicapper who will give set a mark on Tuesday (72-75 is the guessing range). We’ll chat with Charlie about a plan later in the week, that could include a maiden in Paris on June 23rd worth E24k (that includes the premiums) to the winner, but whatever the next race is to be, it will be very much be ground dependant.
Surrey Noir at Doncaster
Surrey Noir Owners
Yesterday morning before the trip to Doncaster we joined the owners at Hughie’s to see the horses on the gallops and get an update on them all, followed by tea/coffee and sausage buns in the sun!
Surrey Belle ran at Salisbury on Thursday evening so she had a slow hack. She didn’t make life easy for herself at Salisbury getting very worked up before the race and then once the race started she pulled so hard that she cut her mouth on the bit. The jockey couldn’t hold her as she careered into the lead and then it was no surprise that she weakened to finish 9th. For those of us present, we all knew she had lost the race about 5 minutes before it had even started! She was also a little sore in her front legs so will have an easy week, and then spend time on the gallops learning to sit behind horses. There is no doubting her ability, it was amazing that despite her antics she only finished 7 lengths from the winner in what was a pretty hot novice where we would expect a few winners to come out of.
Surrey Fire is learning to move comfortably, he’s very straightforward. He’s a big lad who is now 16.2 hands tall so hopefully he won’t grow too much more. He’s bred for a longer so there’s no point rushing him out for shorter racing and Hughie expects to start pushing him harder through August, all going well we’ll see him have a couple of runs in the Autumn. Whatever he does as a two year old will be a bonus as we wouldn’t expect to see the best of him until next year.
Surrey Charm looked a picture and is over her illness. She looked bright and fresh, we felt the best she’s looked on the galops. She was already fit before her illness so it shouldn’t take too much to get race fit again and Hughie expects her to be running mid June as long as there are no other challenges. Hughie thought that the undulations at Brighton could suit as she’s compact and nimble, there are suitable races there on the 13th and 27th, with a number of other options elsewhere in between.
The other runner this past week was Surrey Mist who ran very respectfully in a decent handicap at York’s Dante meeting, finishing a close 6th (3 lengths off the winner) on ground that didn’t suit and giving weight to all bar one horse in front. Kevin thought that performance was nearly as good as his win in the Listed in Deauville and has ruled a line through the poor Newbury performance. We will now look at races, both here and in France, around mid June including the Copper Horse at Royal Ascot, however, he will only run if the ground is on the slow side of good.
Surrey Mist at York
Colours on show at York!
Of the other horses, no update on Surrey Lord or Surrey Fortune, both in a field on holiday for 6 weeks and looking to make their debuts in September. Surrey Knight continues to be an ‘absolute gentleman’ as his gradual build up continues. Surrey Force has now moved to Kevin’s Machell Place yard and has started gallops on Warren Hill, he’s progressing well but needs more work as he was getting too heavy! Surrey Shadow will have another week out in the paddocks, mainly because he seems to be thriving in the sun.
Finally, what a great day of golf at Silvermere last Tuesday, the sun shone, a few beers flowed and Trish beat all to win this years tournament! She is now at the mercy of the handicap committee for 2024!
Congrats to all the winners, good to see the prizes getting shared about.
A quiet few weeks now, but we are already looking forward to what should be a very busy mid June but no concrete plans yet to add to the possible races schedule. We’ll await the handicapper for Noir and Mist, and starting discussing ideas for a few appearances in mid June.
Have a lovely week ahead