August 13th Update

No racing for us last week as we decided against entering Surrey Charm at Windsor, but she is well and we are hoping the ground dries out enough for her to take her place in the last (8.20pm) at Ffos Las on Wednesday in a class 6 handicap (0-65) over a new distance for Charm, stepping up to 12 furlongs. The race is for apprentice jockeys only and we have secured the best of those, with Billy Loughnane again onboard. We think it will be a small field and will be travelling with high hopes. We do have another entry for Charm at Epsom on Friday but that is purely as a back up in case things don’t go according to plan in South Wales.      

We hope to see Surrey Belle in action the following week with a number of options at Leicester, Ffos Las and Windsor, but the forecast looks like it may be against her so we will have wait and see. We saw her at Hughie’s this week and she’s certainly settling great on the gallops and looks to have taken another step forward in her development. Another who is looking very well is Surrey Fire who is a tank of a horse with a very powerful looking girth. He’s pretty boisterous and already dropped his rider a few times! We’ll know more about him towards the end of the month but he’s progressing nicely and still on course for a couple of runs as a two year old.     

Surrey Force is the more forward of the two year olds and had another fast piece of work on Wednesday. As with the previous week he got a little tired towards the end of the 7 furlong run but this week’s work was a step forward. However, he’s just slightly off the pace, he’s still a little lightweight and a touch backward. Kevin thinks that attempting to make a plan at Longchamp at the end of September is probably beyond Force at this time so he would like to draw a line through that and concentrate on the first two races here in the UK with plenty of options at the end of the month and into September.  

Surrey Shadow to our untrained eye probably looks the less conditioned of the three 2 year olds although he’s a big strapping colt with a fantastic attitude. He’s still green and doesn’t quite have the muscle definition of Force and Fire but that will build up nicely as Tom keeps upping his work, however, we would think he’s still 8 weeks away from being track ready, as we said last week, it’s certainly better to be patient at the start.    

No new news on Surrey Mist (who is on the walker daily and as you can see looks great, he would have loved these softer conditions) and Surrey Noir who is on track to reappear next week. 

Surrey Quest has started cantering and we think there has been an improvement in his shoulder injury as he seems more coordinated and better at knowing where his feet are when jumping although we won’t really know for sure until he runs. He’s another who would like to be carrying a bit more condition but Jackie will continue to build up his work and fitness. We do need to make a decision on who will be his trainer this year and have received a number of suggestions from the owners so we will sort that out this week. 

Surrey Fortune knocked his leg a week or so ago and had to have a couple of stitches, which wasn’t an issue and hasn’t stopped his work but unfortunately the wound has become infected so is being treated on antibiotics and will be on the easy list this week. It’s nothing serious but it does put his debut back a couple of weeks to early to mid October. 

Finally, Surrey Lord, he seems to have had a personality change over the summer and is a completely different horse. He’s so relaxed and chilled, almost certainly a sign of maturity. Toby remarked that he’s an absolutely perfect looking horse though that doesn’t mean he has an engine but the signs are all very promising. An expected debut for him in early October as well. The visit we have arranged to Toby’s is part of a wider initiative called National Racehorse Week with a number of events happening up and down the country.

Good Luck to Surrey Charm and connections, we are looking forward to the trip out to Ffos Las ! 

Possible races and events

2023 
August
Wednesday 16th – Surrey Charm – Ffos Las – 8.20 pm
Friday 18th – Surrey Charm - Epsom
Wednesday 23rd - Surrey Noir - Kempton 
                                  Surrey Belle – Leicester
Thursday 24th – Surrey Belle – Ffos Las
Saturday 26th – Surrey Belle - Windsor
September

Saturday 9th – Billy Aprahamian Owners Morning
Thursday 14th Toby Lawes Open House Drinks  (as part of https://nationalracehorseweek.uk/)