8th September Update
Welcome to Ian and Joan, new syndicate owners who have joined the Surrey Fortune team.
A massive congratulations to Ellie Challis on winning Paralympic Gold making Surrey Fortune and Surrey Lord owner Paul very proud!
Her father Paul told the BBC: "Outside of having my children, it was probably the best night of my life - it was just absolutely incredible." He added: "It is not normal for me, but I think I started crying at the halfway point.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c703707z7ezo
From what we hear, you weren’t the only one crying Paul!
Also, congratulations to Mr and Mrs Jack Baker ! Jack, one of youngest and longest serving owners, and Courtney tied the knot yesterday, Steve and I were very fortunate to be invited along to help celebrate their very special day, a great time had by all, although does that mean Jack won’t be allowed racing as often?!!
It’s been a busy week with three runners and a lovely (not weather wise) afternoon at Toby’s with many of his and our horse owners coming together for a champagne reception, a parade of horses, more champagne and a bbq, followed by more champagne!
We had high hopes for a double on Thursday but unfortunately didn’t even get a single with poor draws on the tight all weather tracks putting paid to both horses chances.
Surrey Fire was first up at a very wet Lingfield, drawn 9 of 9 it was always going to hard for Charlie Bishop to get a forward position behind the leaders before the first turn. The slow pace meant that all the gaps were closed off as the field bunched and with Fire pulling hard, Charlie was left with no option but to take over the running and the race was effectively lost after 2 furlongs. Against mid 80 experienced handicappers he was never going to get an easy passage and so it turned out. We will draw a line through that and move on but 10-12f on a galloping turf track with some cut in the ground would be ideal conditions. York on October 12th looks the next best option to me but let’s see what Hughie and the team come up with.
Later that evening at a windy Wolves, Surrey Force faced a similar dilemma (and btw is it just me that thought that was spelt with an N?) being drawn 7 of the 8 runners with Benoit under instructions to try to get to the front. Forced wide at the first turn, it was fully 4 furlongs into the race before Benoit got the lead and slowed the race down, but Force had used so much petrol by then that he couldn’t challenge the even money favourite in the home straight but did run on gamely as the two of them pulled clear of the third. He’ll also appreciate 12f – 14f with some cut in the ground although and does have a tentative entry at Chester on the 21st.
Thankfully with the recent rain we can put the all weather racing back on the backburner. It’s not where we want to watch our horses, it’s very draw dependant and often at soulless venues. However, it does serve a purpose when the ground is too firm elsewhere and offers certainty when the horses are ready to run. We’re sure with better draws we would have been celebrating at least one winner on Thursday.
Surrey Noir ran this afternoon in another conditions race at La Roche Posay. These races are supposedly easier but the quality of some of the entrants has flummoxed us! Today Noir was up against Millebosc, who was 3rd in the 2021 French Derby, only 2 lengths behind St Marks Basilica and Sealiway! He has a rating of 87 and also claimed 1.5kgs, so effectively Noir had to find 21 pounds. Noir to his credit tried to take the red hot favourite on but wasn’t good enough and in doing so faded a little to finish back in 3rd, 6 lengths off the winner. 2nd was formerly trained by Kevin, Sonemos, now owned by Sophie Buckley of Culworth Grounds Farm, where some of our horses go to rehab. Sonemos was rated 75 in the UK and carrying 1.5 kg less so all in all not a bad performance but we need a handicap mark to start running against similar ability horses before heading to a claimer in the Autumn.
It was lovely to see the NH horses at Toby’s on Friday. All three look in great shape and Surrey Quest got a round of applause from all those present which was fantastic. The plan for Quest is to make his comeback at Cheltenham in the Prestbury Handicap on November 17th, and all being well to try and retain the Mandarin Trophy at Newbury on December 28th. Maori Venture is the only horse to retain the trophy (albeit 2 years apart) so that would be some achievement. The feeling is that we won’t make the English National this season, but maybe try to go a nose further in the Scottish National but as we know, plans change, but it’s just brilliant to be looking at the programme book and selecting which big race to take part in.
Surrey Fortune looks as good as we’ve ever seen him. Toby mentioned how well he moved with a huge stride (especially considering he’s got the build of a 2-2.5 miler). He’s been schooling and apparently “jumps like a bunny” but he’ll head to a bumper first next month and considering he’s already fairly on the ball we’d expect him to give a good account of himself from the very first race.
Surrey Lord is a totally different shape and size, very much a distance chaser in the making who has matured so much in the past year. His schooling has also been excellent but he’ll need a bumper next month to learn the ropes and will probably have a racecourse gallop before that to get used to what’s expected of him. Toby mentioned (again) that if he’s as good as he thinks he is then we’ll have some great races to look forward to.
This week we have two potential runners. Surrey Belle has an entry at Ffos Las on Thursday (currently at 3.25) in a class 4 handicap (0-80) over 1m 6f. Hughie has two horses entered in the race with David Probert booked to ride both so he’s keeping his options open. He did feel that this race may come too soon for Belle after her cough but we’ll see how she is early this week before making a decision. If she doesn’t go to Wales then Haydock on the 27th, Ripon 28th or Ffos Las 29th are the next best options.
Surrey Mist may be entered at Chester on Saturday, into the Stand Cup, a Listed contest over 12 furlongs currently scheduled for 2.05 live on ITV. However, we feel he may be suited to Newbury’s Autumn Cup the following Saturday (21st) but we’ll keep an eye on Monday’s entry’s and make a call. Mist is very well though and has come out of his comeback race in great shape so hopefully a couple of big races to compete in before the season is out.
Surrey Charm will be looking to run again before the month is out. Surrey Shadow continues his slow path back to fitness with a small increase in his walking which will continue for the next 5 weeks and Surrey Etoile is chilling in France (only 3 shares left).
The deadline for entries into the Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale in Newmarket at the end of October is tomorrow and we’ve reached out to the owners of Surrey Belle, Surrey Force and Surrey Charm as to whether they feel those horses should be entered into the sale. It was unanimously agreed that all three will have an entry into the sales catalogue. That doesn’t mean they will be sold, there’s still over 7 weeks of racing before the sales and thoughts/ideas/price expectations can change in that period but those three horses could be having their last runs in Surrey Racing colour over the coming weeks. It is never easy separating the emotional attachment to a horse from the commercial realities but if there is one thing that we have learnt during our 7 years of running Surrey Racing is that there is inevitably a prime time to sell a horse.
We are thinking of buying 2 yearlings at the upcoming sales, the feeling is that one will be trained by Tom and the other with Hughie so we will let you know when we have more details on that.
Best wishes to the Belle and Mist owners if their horses run this week, there could be spare badges for both racedays so drop me a note if you are interested in donning the yellow and blue and cheering on either horse.
Possible races and events
September
Thursday 12th – Surrey Belle – Ffos Las – 3.25
Saturday 14th – Surrey Mist – Chester – 2.05
Saturday 21st – Surrey Force – Chester
Surrey Mist - Newbury
Saturday 28th – Toby Lawes SR Gallops
October
Saturday 12th – Surrey Fire - York
November
Sunday 17th – Surrey Quest - Cheltenham
December
Saturday 28th – Surrey Quest - Newbury