End of July Update

A very enjoyable afternoon with the owners at Sandown on Thursday to watch Surrey Belle, who put up a fairly decent performance finishing only ¾ of a length down in third, although it did feel that most of the 18 of us present expected a slightly better performance, but there was no disgrace in the run which capped a 1st 2nd and 3rd in July.  It’s a bit of a conundrum with Belle, as she settled nicely again in her hood, but when it comes to the business end of the race, the hood seems to dull her senses and she leaves it too late to get going. Rob Hornby suggested trying 10 furlongs again without the hood although we know, ultimately, Belle will run over at least 12 furlongs. She’s had 4 runs in the past 10 weeks as well so maybe that has taken a toll and a small break to refresh could be needed. She was fine after the race, we will see if the handicapper changes her mark, then discuss with next steps with Hughie.   

Talking of the handicapper, Surrey Charm obviously impressed the BHA as they hiked her rating by 6 pounds to an Official Rating of 63. We think that’s a little unfair and have appealed. The BHA said that Surrey Charm was decisively the best horse on the day. He used the sectional times when assessing the race which showed that Charm clocked the fastest furlong splits for each of the last 3f and she was able to sustain her run and his interpretation was that it was her quickening rather than others weakening (as we argued) being the main factor. In terms of the level of form, Queensland Boy had raced quite keenly and met some trouble in running last time, so it looked likely that he was capable of running to a higher figure than he had shown previously, this being only his fifth career start. He was 2.75L ahead of the third in this race and the BHA struggled to justify not giving him some sort of rise for his performance. Having said all that he has agreed to lower the rating to 62 although we are still putting our point of view across to lower it further.   

We did have more disappointing news this week in that Surrey Mist was been scanned again and unfortunately the hole in his ligament hasn’t healed as well as we would have liked. As a result, we need to treat the injury in the same way as a horse with a tendon injury and this means an extended period of rest. The rehab involves 6 months in a field, before returning to training. His work will be different to reduce stress on the ligament and would involve plenty of swimming, longer steadier gallops, rather than shorter intervals up Warren Hill and all being well he would be ready to race again in late spring/early summer. He would obviously be scanned regularly but there is no way of knowing if the treatment has worked until he has that first run back. The reality is that there is always the risk that he could break down on his return and have to be retired, very similar to Surrey Knight. 

More positive news is that Surrey Quest has had his schooling increased and seems to be moving better. He’ll start cantering this week which will not just give Jackie a better indication of his condition but also starting building up his fitness so if he is given the all clear to resume training he’s not starting his fitness work from scratch.  

Surrey Noir continues to step up his work following his gelding operation working on the Limekilns short, over 5 furlongs for now, and all is good although he has more serious work to come over the next few weeks before returning to the track mid August.  

If it goes to plan we should see Surrey Force debut in August. He does have an entry into the Arqana Sales Race which is the Saturday of Arc weekend at Longchamp and has a prize pool of €290,000.  As part of the entry, he is also entered into a race in Deauville for unraced horses on August 17th with a prize pool of €170,000. These are options and not a certainty, he’d have to produce two good pieces of work on the next two Wednesdays before we consider sending him to France for his debut. If we are worried that he could be too green for an overseas debut he’ll have his first race closer to home and we retain the Paris option for the end of September.  

No new news on the others, business as usual. 

Have a super week ahead  

Possible races and events

2023 
August
Thursday 17th – Surrey Force – Deauville
September

Saturday 9th – Billy’s Owners Morning
Thursday 14th Toby Lawes Drinks 
Saturday 30th – Surrey Force – Paris Longchamp