October 8th Update

It was good to catch up with some of the Surrey Noir syndicate owners on Wednesday to see how Noir would fare up a grade in a very competitive handicap. At any level you do need the race to be run to benefit your horse and that didn’t quite happen at Kempton, where Noir got squeezed for room in the first furlong and didn’t quite recover enough to challenge up front, but he still ran a very respectable 4th place. If the run of the race had gone in his favour then who knows how much further forward he would finished. Charlie and James think a drop back to 6 furlongs would suit him better as the pace would be quicker and that would stop all the scrimmaging that he doesn’t really like. Also, James thought the last furlong felt quite long, so just a slight question mark on whether he stays the full 7f. Noir was fine the following morning , there’s no doubting in Charlie’s views that he will be physically a lot stronger next season so it is possible that this could be the last run for this one, but we’ll see how he is in a couple of weeks time as their are two potential options over 6 furlongs at Doncaster on the 27th and Newmarket on November 4th. 

Yesterday a few of the racehorse owners gathered at a very sunny and pleasant Epsom racecourse to see Surrey Quest being put through his paces. He’s in fine shape, very content, and we cant wait to see him back on a racecourse at the end of the month with plenty of options to go novice handicap chasing. He will get a 2 pound drop to 120 so that will help guarantee that he gets into the lower grade races to start with, and if he has no medical issues then we’d expect a very good run but as we have said before, until he actually races, we won’t know if his injury has been sorted.  

Surrey Lord wasn’t in attendance yesterday, we mentioned he had a knock last week, he has giving himself a severe kick which has caused a ‘crush’ injury to his tendon and following a scan on Monday it’s worse than we thought. He’s not lame and well within himself so credit to Toby for checking out the kick, and we cant take any chances with the tendon damage so he’ll have a month off and then be rescanned. All going well he’ll be racing around Christmas time, but if the injury hasn’t healed then its a season ending issue which would be so frustrating to all but he’s young and will bounce back.  

This week we have entries at Nottingham on Wednesday for two horses. Surrey Fire is entered to make his debut in a class 2 novice race, which is a Sire and Dam restricted race (sire or dam to have run over a mile) over 8 furlongs. Jason Hart has been booked to ride and although we aren’t expecting to much from this run, it’s great to have another debutant and to see where the dream takes us. Later on that day Surrey Charm, who the handicapper dropped 2 pounds to a new rating of 60, may run in a class 6 handicap, to be run over 10 furlongs for apprentice jockeys (who have won less than 50 races), Kaiya Fraser, a young man from Hackney with 25 winners to date has been booked to ride. Surrey Charm may also have an entry at Windsor on Monday 16th in a 0-65 class 6 handicap over 11 furlongs as Hughie keeps his options open. 

A couple of owners have had a change in circumstances and would like to see if anyone wishes to buy their share, so a small share is available in Surrey Noir and a bigger one in Surrey Fire – if you are interested then let us know.  

Tattersalls Book 1 occurred last week with some very big money purchases especially from Godolphin and Coolmore but at the lower level trade didn’t seem to be as hot as it was last year. The median was down 10% and the average down 24% which hopefully is a sign of other sales to follow. Book 2,3 and 4 are on this week, including tomorrow (approx. 4pm), lot 720, a half brother to Surrey Charm out of 2000 guineas winner Kameko. We are also finalising plans for the trip to the sales in Deauville so if anyone hasn’t let us know that you are interested in a share in France please shout.  

No new news on the others horses.  

Good luck to Surrey Fire and Surrey Charm’s owners and connections.  

Possible races and events

2023 
October
Wednesday 11th – Surrey Fire – Nottingham
                                 Surrey Charm - Nottingham
Sunday 15th – Surrey Charm - Windsor
Tuesday 17th – Day 1 of the Arqana Yearling Sale
Monday 23rd – Surrey Quest - Plumpton
Wednesday 25th – Surrey Quest – Worcester
Friday 27th – Surrey Noir – Doncaster
Tuesday 31st – Surrey Quest - Bangor

November
Saturday 4th – Surrey Noir - Newmarket