August Bank Holiday Update

A busy, yet ultimately a frustrating week with three runners all collecting prize money but not the main prize. Having said that, it hasn’t been a bad summer with 6 runs producing 1 winner, 2 seconds, 2 thirds and a fourth which isn’t too shabby at all.  

The first race on Wednesday was Surrey Charm at Bath on a glorious sunny afternoon. The race itself though was very messy with the 2nd furlong 3 seconds slower than the first and with jockey Lewis Edmunds riding to order (middle of the pack) Charm was pulled back from a decent start and really she wasn’t allowed to get into a rhythm. She lost her position when the race quickened and was left behind, despite a late rally (she was the quickest over the final 2 furlongs although the winner was never pushed) she could only finish 4th. She was fine after the race and we think it’s best to draw a line through it and move on. She may prefer it back at 10 furlongs where the pace will be quicker and would suit her strong finish but we’ll discuss options with Hughie next week.   

Less than an hour later Surrey Noir was much improved at Kempton and only lost in a very tight finish by nodding his head at the wrong time with the owners present celebrating the win before seeing the replay, very unlucky indeed. However, Noir has been somewhat disappointing with some mitigating factors so it was good to see him back performing how Charlie thinks he can and those two nose defeats would make his form look so much better if the margins had gone in his favour. There aren’t too many options for him in September so we’ll keep an open mind but he’s still a maiden and there may be the possibility of a run in France for decent prize money. 

On Friday a few of the owners went on an overnighter to Ffos Las and apart from the race result we had an absolute blast! Surrey Belle had everything in her favour, a low weight, soft ground, top jockey, and settled nicely before fading into third place. She was a bit sore in front afterwards (hopefully just a bruised foot) and had a small discharge of mucus back at the yard which could (or maybe not) be mitigating factors. We saw with Noir and how his dirty scope showed the cause for a bad run at Leicester so it can happen and they do bounce back, we will see how she is this week.  

In other news it’s yearling sales season and Arqana hosted their August sale at Deauville last week and once again the horse racing industry has shown incredible resilience to the lack of growth in the global economy with records once again smashed. We are hoping that when we visit the September sale there will be some value to be had.

There isn’t too much new news on the other horses, Surrey Knight has now left Newmarket and is back at Culworth Grounds Farm where Sophie and her team will give him plenty of care and attention until a new home is found for him, hopefully as a dressage competitor.  

Surrey Force has resumed work on the gallops after his soreness and will be brought back up slowly and hopefully a debut late September. Surrey Quest has resumed work after an x-ray of his fetlock showed only a little bruising after his cellulitis.

Have a good Bank Holiday and week ahead 

Possible races and events

2023 
September

Saturday 9th – Billy’s Aprahamian Open Morning
Thursday 14th Toby Lawes Open House Drinks  - https://nationalracehorseweek.uk/yard/toby-lawes-2/
October
Saturday 7th – Toby Lawes Owners Morning