September Already!
It was great to have another injured horse back racing again as Surrey Charm put in a gutsy performance at Ffos Las on Friday after a 300+ day break. She travelled nicely under Billy Loughnane but the race was run at such a slow speed that it turned into a 2 furlong sprint with the odds on favourite notching up his 6 win in the past 8 races. Charm stayed on to finish 3.5 lengths back, pipped by a nose into 3rd. She was fine yesterday and will come on for the run. We’d expect her to be back out in about 3 weeks time.
For those who haven’t been to Ffos Las, it’s miles away, but is a charming course and certainly worth a visit. We would all love to be racing at Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood etc but unfortunately those appearances are few and far between, the bread and butter for a syndicate are places like Ffos Las. Chris summed up the experience in a note that I thought I’d summarise and share, it’s what being in a syndicate is about..
When Clive reported that I was the sole attendee for Surrey Charm's reappearance I started to have a few worries. Would I be interviewed by Matt Chapman and reveal to a wider audience my superficial understanding of the sport of horse racing? What if she won would I have to buy the champagne and drink it all myself and would Clive believe that I had done so?
My worries soon disappeared when first Nicky and then Al and Natalie joined the list of those going. Much relief. Nicky went well out of her way and picked me up from Llanelli station which is about 50 miles from where she lives and she would have gone past the racecourse on her way to me. She gave all 3 of us a lift back into Llanelli after racing and this on the eve of her going off to Greece.
Ffos Las in the sunshine was a warm and welcoming place. The owners and trainers facilities were good and the meal was fine. There was a decent crowd and the atmosphere was good. The racecourse looks good and is a big galloping track. Young Billy described the ground as sticky.
My three companions were grand company - Nicky in particular has a fund of stories some of which are not repeatable.
A good day was had by all.
Lovely stuff! We still have one horse left on the injured list but Surrey Shadow is over the worse and has started walking daily, only 2 lots of 20 minutes for now but that will gradually build up over the next 6 weeks before he then starts gentle trotting. Tom has remarked how well he has done physically with the time off, he looks great, his form has been franked many times, so we really do look forward to an exciting 4 year old career.
With Surrey Mist back racing, Surrey Fortune and Surrey Lord only 6 weeks away from their debuts, and Surrey Quest back into full training it’s great to have so many horses with a clean bill of health, long may that remain but as we know, horses do get injured at the most frustrating time. We are looking forward to seeing 20 owners at Toby’s on Friday when he will be parading all of his horses and discussing plans for the season ahead. The Mandarin Trophy will be taking centre stage!
Surrey Belle is over her cough and two weeks away from racing again (maybe back to Ffos Las again on the 12th).
By the time you read next week’s newsletter we should have had 3 more runners. If the storms come and the ground softens Surrey Force will be running at Bath on Wednesday but most likely at Wolves on Thursday. Surrey Fire doesn’t have any turf options and is ready to run so he will make his handicap debut at Lingfield also on Thursday. Finally, on Sunday Surrey Noir has his last conditions race (we think) at La Roche Posay (now we know where the skincare comes from!) on Sunday in a 1700 metre race for 4 years and over who have not won a class 4 race in the last two outings.
Best wishes to owner Paul’s daughter, Ellie Challis, who competes in the Paralympics tomorrow in the 50m backstroke.
Good luck to connections, a busy week with racing and Toby’s open day – winners on the horizon !
Possible races and events
September
Wednesday 3rd – Surrey Force – Bath – 14.30
Thursday 5th – Surrey Fire – Lingfield – 16.30
- Surrey Force – Wolves – 20.00
Friday 6th – Toby Lawes Owner’s Open Day
Sunday 8th – Surrey Noir - La Roche Posay
Thursday 12th – Surrey Belle – Ffos Las
Saturday 14th – Surrey Mist - Chester
Saturday 21st – Surrey Force – Chester
- Surrey Mist - Newbury
Saturday 28th – Toby Lawes SR Gallops