Weekly Update - 19th Sept
It was great to catch up with loads of the syndicate owners this week, we had 20 at Nicky Henderson’s yard on Tuesday and then a decent 14 horse racing owner (not just in the O&T enclosure!) turnout on Friday at Newbury. How funny that with the NH horses owners on Tuesday it poured down with rain and then Flat Racing Friday when we wanted rain it was a very pleasant sunny 21 degrees!
The horses warmed up in the covered ring and then headed out to the large sand oval gallop and did a few laps of low intensity work. Both horses looked very relaxed doing that.
Gran Luna has had the one schooling session this summer which surprised me as her jumping isn’t the best, but Nicky (and Charlie) thought other horses needed it more. She looks great and has certainly grown over the summer. The plan is to continue in novice hurdling as there is unfinished business and then hopefully chasing before the season is out. Nicky said she had a disappointing season last year given the high hopes he had for her, but he said she has every chance of bouncing back this season. She’ll run on ground up to ‘good’ over 2 to 2 m 4f. Being a mare there is obvious value if she can pick up some black type along the way.
Surrey Quest looks a proper racehorse. He’s now taller than Gran Luna (and she’s not small) and has really filled out in all the right places. His attitude is fantastic and Nicky called him ‘bomb proof’ whilst Charlie mentioned that last year he was a baby, very excitable, whereas this season he has his head down and loves working. He’s been put through his paces on the all weather so he does do a lot more high intensity work. The plan for this season is straight to novice hurdling as he’s a good jumper so should have no issues there. He does need cut in the ground, so at worse the softer side of good for him. He’ll start at 2 miles but being a Milan he’ll probably need at least 2.5 miles. The yard thinks he’s going to make a very good handicapper so fingers crossed. Both horses will be ready to run mid October, 4-5 weeks time as long as the rain has come by then.
Surrey Gold didn’t quite live up to expectations on Friday in a very competitive class 2 handicap although as always he didn’t disgrace himself. We know he needs softer ground but we wanted to give him a run before tackling an even harder race early in October. On the plus side he didn’t lose a shoe and has come out of the race really well. He’ll improve for that run and we look forward to either York (1m 6f) or Newmarket (1m 4f) on October 8th where hopefully the ground will be softer.
Surrey Knight did his first proper piece of faster work up Warren Hill this week and although he was a bit babyish he performed well and had no ill affects. Charlie will make an entry into next years 153rd German Derby to be run in Hamburg on July 10th as he thinks Knight has the right profile of a horse who could reach that level and this type of race. Obviously until he hits the racetrack we won’t know but Charlie is very happy so far and we will live the dream for longer!
Surrey Mist and Surrey Princess are both well and due for a racecourse gallop at Kempton this week and all going well will be back on the track on the 30th. We will report back after the gallop and keep you posted. There’s still plenty of time left this year to enjoy both of them on the racetrack.
Finally, with sales season in full swing, we’d like to invite you all to our 2021 Yearling Parade on Sunday morning, November 7th at Langshot Stud in Chobham where we will parade our three yearlings that we would have bought. If you are interested then get in touch!
Entries and Other Possible Plans/Events 2021
September
Thursday 30th - Surrey Princess (Lingfield)
Thursday 30th - Surrey Mist (Salisbury)
October
Friday 8th – Surrey Gold (Newmarket – The Old Rowley Cup)
- Surrey Gold (York – Casumo Handicap)
Sunday 24th – George Baker Owners Lunch
November
Sunday 7th – Surrey Racing Yearling Parade 10.00 -12.00 @ Langshot Stud, Chobham, Surrey
2022
July
10th – Surrey Knight (153rd German Derby, Hamburg)