End of July Update
Welcome Clare and Lindsay, two new syndicate owners to Surrey Racing, both liking what they saw of Surrey Fortune last week.
Despite having a load of entries this week we actually only had the one runner as the rain stayed away and the tracks dried out. The sole runner Surrey Belle was back racing after only a 9 day break following her win at Kempton last week. The handicapper was suitably impressed with that win and hiked her 8 pounds to a career high of 74. However that rating doesn’t come into play until next week so we rushed Belle out to try to take advantage of only a 5 pound penalty. However the ground wasn’t really to her liking and despite making the running the horses with a better change of gear picked her off in the final furlongs, she was 6 lengths back in 7th. Belle was fine the following morning and we await to see whether the handicapper will knock some of that 8 pound rise back off.
We do have 2 potential runners this week, certainly on Tuesday with Surrey Fire dragging the syndicate owners to Lingfield for a novice stakes over 10 furlongs with the race time confirmed as 6.20 pm. Fire has been drawn stall 5 of the 6 runner race with Harry Davies on board. It’s fair to say that following his last race, and with hindsight, Fire wasn’t as fit as Hughie would have liked and as a result he’s has been working Fire hard over the past few weeks. The tight bends won’t really suit Fire, although he will appreciate the left handed track. With no real other options we’ll take our chance in what doesn’t look the strongest novice.
Later in the week, Surrey Force may have an entry at Windsor for Saturday’s card, which has been labelled ‘Gents Day’. Force does need soft ground so declarations are dependant on thunderstorms ending this hot spell. The 19.55 is a class 6 handicap (0-68) over 11.5 furlongs, Chris Moyles banging out the tunes after racing!
Surrey Mist missed his date with Ascot due to the ground and we’ll wait 2 weeks until August 10th for his next option, which is the Shergar Cup at Ascot. Surrey Shadow is coming through his critical time, there’s probably another 10 days before he’s out of the danger zone but so far so good. Surrey Charm continues her fitness build up.
Surrey Noir came out of his the race last Saturday really well and is in fine shape, and although he had a few easy days after the race, he’s now back on the Chantilly gallops. Tim regrets running him over a short distance last Saturday but in fairness to Tim, he hasn’t had the horse long but it has made Tim’s mind up that he’s certainly going to be more effective over longer. He’ll look for a suitable conditions race over a mile early to mid August.
We paid a visit to Toby’s last week and all three horses are looking in great health. At this early stage there aren’t really doing a lot, light trotting to build up their fitness. Surrey Lord is the furthest forward of the 3 but he looks like he’s had the least work, he’s an absolute monster of a horse!
Surrey Lord
Surrey Fortune is really enjoying being in Surrey. He’s changed, no longer bucking, but really inquisitive with the other horses and making plenty of friends. He looks well but totally different to Lord, Fortune will be a racier type, over shorter distances. Both Lord and Fortune should be running in a bumper late September/early October.
Surrey Fortune
Finally, Surrey Quest, who has only just returned to light work after his injury but doesn’t appear to have put on any condition. He looks fit and ready to race! Toby mentioned that after the Ayr race, McDermott couldn’t put one foot in front of the other for about 2 weeks, the race took so much out of him. Quest could have run at Sandown the week later! Quest won’t return to action until the end of October, maybe even early November, but it’s April when we want him to peak!
Surrey Quest
It’s really exciting for the horse owners, who have one horse who has already hit the heights, and have another 2 unraced horses who really look the part. Both Lord and Fortune would have benefitted from the slow road to racing but they will reap the rewards in the long run, we have very high hopes for all three next season.
Don’t forget the Goodwood tipping contest – only £20 for a weeks load of fun, get in touch with Nicky on hassle04@icloud.com before Tuesday morning. There’s usually a big pot with daily winners, it’s a lot cheaper that visiting the bookies! Entry to everyone not just Surrey Racing owners.
Good Luck to Fire and Force’s (rain permitting) connections this week.
Possible races and events
July
Tuesday 30th - Surrey Fire - Lingfield 6.10
August
Saturday 3rd – Surrey Force – Windsor 19.55
Saturday 10th – Surrey Mist – Ascot
Monday 12th – Surrey Force – Kempton
Wednesday 14th – Surrey Force - Kempton
September
Friday 6th – Toby Lawes Open Day