A Charming Week
Last week was all about the return of Surrey Charm after what felt a long 11 months off with injury and illness and not one word of frustration from the owners who have waited patiently for Hughie to get her spot on for her return to the track. Hughie thought that Charm would need the run and enjoy running further so we all travelled to Chepstow with the desire that she would run a nice race and return safely. It turned out a bit better than that - many congratulations – patience rewarded!
I think what stood out was how relaxed Charm was beforehand. She looked great, still one of the smaller horses but she has certainly grown and filled out, but, she really seemed to enjoy being at the racecourse, and that really is half the battle. Other horses were playing up on the way to the post, not Charm, once Billy Loughnane was onboard, she hacked away lovely and entered the stalls without an issue. The race itself was planned by Hughie and executed perfectly by Billy. Give the other horses a lead, let them start racing too early, and knowing Charm will stay, see if she’s fit enough to overhaul some of them – all of them as it turned out !!
Cue celebrations – we closed the Chepstow bar – our 4th win at the course and Billy’s first ride for us, what a good jockey he is already for one so young. The ground was perfect, Charm wouldn’t want it any softer, the course although undulating suited her ‘nimble’ frame, and distance wise we feel she would stay at least another 2 furlongs. She did run a bit green so will certainly improve for the run. Charm trotted up full of beans the following morning, although you would expect that as she’s had the easiest run, all the other horses were being pushed hard! We will see what the handicapper says on Tuesday. We think a 3 pound hike to 60 is likely which would mean she can stay in the same class of race next time out which will be in 3-4 weeks time if no hiccups.
Next up is Surrey Belle who has been entered in a class 5 (0-70) fillies only handicap at Sandown on Thursday with Rob Hornby booked to ride. Belle is taking a step forward with every race, so after her 2nd place last time out at Ffos Las we are hoping for further improvement and back to back Surrey winners! She should get her favoured softer ground and although we are sticking with 10 furlongs for now, the stiffer uphill finish should suit.
We visited Newmarket on Saturday and saw Surrey Shadow on his daily gallop up Warren Hill, he’s taking everything in his stride and will have his work stepped up next week to include two gallops, combining Warren Hill with Long Hill, and with the weekend rain he’ll have his first gallops on the Long Hill turf.
Surrey Noir has resumed full training and will be doing faster work this week, so we would expect to see him back on a racetrack early to mid August. There’s no updates on the others, we are waiting for news of Surrey Mist’s next scan and Surrey Quest’s schooling, while Surrey Lord and Surrey Fortune are slowly being reintroduced to harder work, and finally Surrey Force and Surrey Fire are gradually having their workload increased as their debuts edge ever closer.
Good luck to the Belle’s on Thursday
Possible races and events
2023
July
Thursday 27th – Surrey Belle –Sandown - 16.55
August
September
Saturday 9th – Billy’s Owners Morning