A Winning Update
It was a good evening at a very warm and sultry Kempton Park last Wednesday as the syndicate owners gathered with expectation that Surrey Noir would perform well enough to win the last on the card. Noir and James Doyle had two very close seconds and we were hoping this would be 3rd time lucky for the pair. The plan from a decent draw was to settle near the front, however, James said afterwards, that at the start there was a lot of pushing and shoving so he pulled Noir back to keep away from that. As the race progressed Noir eased through the gears, the gaps opened at the right time and he won going away but also easing up by 2.5 lengths. Cue horse owner celebration – the lights had gone off in the whole course when we were asked to leave, and the temperature was still in the high 20s !
Charlie has always spoke highly of Noir from his work at home so he’s probably been more frustrated than the rest of us so it was great (for him and his team) that Noir put in a solid performance and this should give him confidence going forward. He’s still not yet physically mature so he should have more to give over time. Charlie and James thought a return to 6 furlongs on the turf may bring that further improvement so that’s where he will go next time although looking at the fixture list there doesn’t seem to be many options on the turf. The handicapper will also have his say. Noir takes his races well and was in great shape the following morning.
That was our third win at Kempton, we still have owners from Surrey Hope’s win there on General Election night, March 8th 2017 under a young Oisin Murphy, our first ever Surrey Racing winner. The other was Surrey Mist blowing away 3 Godolphin’s in March last year. James Doyle’s has now ridden his second SR winner, the other being on Surrey Pride in front of the ITV cameras at York in May 21. If Noir can match the talents of those three horses then the syndicate owners will all be very happy indeed!
It was great to catch up with some of the owners at Billy’s open day yesterday, it was a very pleasant lunchtime. His new deep sand gallop will hopefully be completed within the next two weeks and that will certainly help Surrey Fortune tighten up as he nears his big day on the track. Fortune looked very well although still needs 6-8 weeks work before we see him on a racecourse.
It’s been a good run of form since the start of July, we have had 7 races, 2 wins, 2 seconds, 2 thirds and a fourth. That fourth place blip was Surrey Charm who is now feeling better and back on the gallops. She could be back out in 2 weeks time, with a possible run at Sandown on the 20th, something for the horse shareholders to look forward to.
We bumped into Kevin at Kempton and he mentioned Surrey Force is slowly building up his work but wouldn’t expect to see him on a racecourse until October. We did reiterate that we are happy to be patient and to wait until he’s absolutely sure Force is ready to race.
As we mentioned last week, we certainly have enough interest to buy one yearling to be training in Chantilly by Tim Donworth.
No racing this week but we’re looking forward to seeing a few of you at Toby’s on Thursday where we will get to see Surrey Quest (who arrived on Monday and must be thinking it’s a bit warmer in Surrey!!) and Surrey Lord.
See you Thursday and have a super week ahead
Possible races and events
2023
September
Thursday 14th Toby Lawes Open House Drinks (as part of https://nationalracehorseweek.uk/)
Wednesday 20th – Surrey Charm - Sandown
October
Saturday 7th – Toby Lawes Owners Morning
Monday 16th – Day 1 of the Arqana Yearling Sale