Jan 23rd Update
A busy week with Gran Luna running well to finish 2nd at Newbury, Surrey Mist had a decent racecourse gallop at Kempton on Friday and yesterday we had a great horse racing owners morning at Charlie’s yard to see Surrey Noir and Surrey Knight.
Starting with Gran Luna, what a battling horse she is! We worried that with the Newbury ground drying out the 2 mile race would be too short for her to make it a real test and so that proved to be with Voice of Calm reversing the placings from their last meeting in December. There was absolutely no disgrace with the run though, it was a great effort and amazingly she’s had now had 7 runs with 4 wins and 2 places! She was fine after the race so we’ll see her back on the track again in February probably over 2.5 miles.
Surrey Quest had tests for bacterial infections and viruses, but they all came back negative. However a chiropractor/physio examined him and discovered that Quest has very sore muscles running down both sides of his neck to the top of his shoulder. This would explain why he jumped poorly and why his jumping was getting worse as the race continued. The soreness could have been caused by the increased workload at home (as we have said before, he is still very immature) or from hitting a hurdle and landing awkwardly earlier in the race. The good news is, that as a muscle injury, the treatment is physio and rest. As he was going to be given a short break anyway, he should still be out again late Feb/early March.
Surrey Mist had a racecourse gallop over 10 furlongs at a very chilly Kempton on Friday morning. He was really keen to get out on the track but settled well enough under Trevor Whelan against a bumper horse called Bonnet. Trevor pushed him on over the last 2 furlongs and he really stretched out – to my untrained eye (which in fairness were cold and watery!) I thought it was pretty impressive. Trevor said Mist did his best work at the end and thinks he’ll eventually be racing over 12 furlongs but having made his debut over 7 furlongs we don’t really need to step up too much too soon. He’s ready to make his seasonal debut and we are aiming for that to be in a 3 year old novice race over 10 furlongs at Lingfield on February 4th. Lingfield may not suit him but options are really limited before the turf season starts.
Surrey Princess has had a quiet week after her run last weekend. The handicapper left her alone at 55 so we will try to find a race to suit. With the improvement shown in the past three races the owners have decided to keep her in training for the time being to see if she can win a few races off the low mark.
It was great that over 20 owners enjoyed a stunning morning in Newmarket yesterday. Not a cloud in the sky, crisp frosty gallops, great hospitality, (tea/coffee and bacon rolls) from Charlie and the team, and two horses who seem to be exciting the trainer!
Surrey Knight has really started to fill out but there’s more growing to come. Charlie is very happy with him saying he’s wintered well, solid rather than heavy and has been poodling about with the yearlings, just having some fun. He’s now getting bored of that so from next week the proper work starts as Charlie prepares him to be race ready. If all goes well then he will be aiming to make his debut at Doncaster in March but there’s a lot to go right before then. Knight has a good long stride, he’s going to be a powerful galloping middle distance horse so cut in the ground will be needed. There’s no doubt we are all being patient and very excited to see him make his debut this Spring.
Surrey Noir has also wintered well and has had a clean run of health, which is not always the case with the yearlings. He is doing everything that’s being asked of him including cantering up Warren Hill 4 times a week which he finds pretty easy going. He’s a very athletic horse who skips across the top of the ground and therefore he’s going to need quick ground to be seen at his best. Charlie said he splits his 2 year olds in to 3 categories, A for those 2 year olds who will be out running early season, B for those who have a 2 year old career but aren’t as precocious and C for those like Knight who need time to mature and wont be seen at their best until they are 3, 4 or even 5. Surrey Noir is firmly in the B camp so although he won’t be out in the first few months of the season, fingers crossed he’ll be lighting up the tracks under the summer sun! It is early days but Charlie commented yesterday that there’s a touch of class about him. No wonder we are sold out!
A quiet week coming up but the year is bubbling up nicely. January we had three runs, with two places and looking ahead we could have 4 of the horses running in February, plus the syndicate owners morning at George’s.
Have a great week ahead
Entries and Other Possible Plans/Events 2021
2022
February
Friday 4th – Surrey Mist - Lingfield
Saturday 5th – George Baker stable visit for Charm, Mist and Princess owners
March
Saturday March 5th – Hughie Morrison Stable visit for Belle and Gold Owners
Saturday 26th – Surrey Knight – Doncaster (Maiden Stakes)
July
Sunday 3rd – Surrey Knight (153rd German Derby, Hamburg) ) 95 left in – next stage Jan 24th
https://www.deutscher-galopp.de/gr/renntage/rennen.php?id=1330172&d=20220703&s=N