Shadow Shines!

As we walked out of Southwell Racecourse on Wednesday, one of the stewards said ‘winner winner, chicken dinner’ and it made us smile, it never gets boring having a winner! Congratulations to all the Surrey Shadow owners who have now experienced that feeling as Shadow broke his maiden with a gutsy performance beating a couple of horses that may be half decent. After being off the racecourse due to a fractured pelvis for 220 days it was hard to feel over-confident, but he looked fit, well and relaxed in the prelims. With 2 decent fillies claiming 7 pounds from us, plus a well backed Archie Watson debutant we were all feeling a little apprehensive and as the 4 rounded the home turn into the long home straight it could have been anyone’s race. 4 became 3 as we hit the final 2 furlongs and then 3 became 2 as Shadow and Commanding Prince pulled ahead, but fear not, in Neil Callan, we had the stronger of the two jockeys and that may have been the difference as we won by a cosy head! I think I wrote a few weeks back about being the wrong side of photo finishes, the judge did call a photo and this time we prevailed for our first winner with Tom Clover. (it was great to see the Clover’s win the big sprint in Doha this morning). That was our first run at Southwell, we were impressed with the course, and the village, a lot nicer than the other all-weather tracks, and thinking about our 4-hour drive home, it would make a very decent overnight stay to enjoy the celebrations!   

Surrey Shadow came out of the race well, and now he’ll head to Doncaster at the end of March where he has an entry into the 2025 Lincoln. He receives a 5-pound penalty for the Lincoln which elevates him up the weights, but the plan is to run him in the Spring Handicap (Silver Lincoln) which I believe is based on his handicap mark, which possibly could change on Tuesday (it may not change from his current 82 mark).     

 4 became 3

Winners!

For those statisticians out there, that was our 46th winner from 236 races, a winner now at 26 different racecourses, our first winner with Neil Callan who becomes our 30th winning jockey. It’s our 17th winning horse from 23 horses who have run more than once, a very healthy 74%. That is our 6th runner in the UK this year already, and not one has been out of the winner’s enclosure/prize money, it’s turning into a very good start to the year and long may that continue – a syndicate on the up!   

Incidentally, in the late 1920s (the Depression Era in the United States), a chicken dinner from a casino cafeteria cost just under $2—and $2 was the standard bet for many gamblers. So, anyone who won a bet was effectively able to buy dinner that day, hence the phrase “winner winner chicken dinner. 

We may have our 18th winning horse this week as Sea Presenting heads to Huntingdon on the back of two good early career races. She’s in good shape, schooled well yesterday and so the plan is to run on Thursday in a mares’ maiden, over 2.5 miles, with the race currently scheduled for 3.15 pm. This race is a E.B.F Mares' 'National Hunt' Novices' Hurdle Race qualifier, with the final to be run over two miles, four and a half furlongs at Newbury on Saturday, March 22nd, so a decent performance on Thursday could mean we have another big Saturday race to look forward to. Kevin Brogan rides, good luck to him (as we have seen from the sad news in Ireland this morning, it’s a tough sport) and all those connected with Sea Presenting. 

Staying with the theme of Saturday racing, Surrey Quest is having his next two races mapped out. He may run in The Grimthorpe at Doncaster in 2 weeks’ time, but with a handicap mark to protect, he may instead run in a hurdle race. Originally we assumed his hurdle mark would stay at 130, which would make him very competitive, as well as possibly sharpening him up (he has been idling at times in his past few races) before a crack at the Scottish Grand National, However, there is no fooling the handicapper and they are going to allot a new mark of 134, although that is still 5 pounds lower than his chase mark. There are two potential hurdle races, one at the Grimthorpe meeting, a 0-145 over 3 miles,  or Sunday 9th at Warwck, a 0-135 over 3 miles and 2 furlongs. Toby does seem to be ruling out the Midlands National, as we mentioned last week, it can be a very attritional race.   

Surrey Lord is well and there are several options for him in early March to start his novice hurdling campaign, including Southwell on Monday 3rd.  

In some sadder news, all of us involved with Surrey Noir have taken the decision to retire him. Despite our best efforts and a great deal of patience from everyone, we accept that that keeping Surrey Noir in training makes little sense. Unfortunately, his performances have not been good enough and after his last race there was some evidence of bleeding, although there has been no indication of this before, it may suggest an underlying problem explaining the steady deterioration in form. In the circumstances, there was no point incurring additional costs in the hope that he wins a couple more races and be claimed. Fortunately, France has an excellent racehorse retraining programme, organised through a non-profit charity called Au-Dela des Pistes (www.audeladespistes.fr/Home/Index/EN) and Surrey Noir has already moved to their Strasbourg branch where he will have a loving caring home outside of racing. Because he is race fit, he will lead the less experienced and able horses in their daily routines and so will lead a fruitful life being retrained for another career. He ran 18 times, winning two, with 4 other places, 2 of those were by the barest of margins and reached a career high mark of 75, although unfortunately it’s been a steady decline since that high.  

We are also looking for a new home for Surrey Fortune who is still being looked after at Toby’s. He can be ridden and is very well, so if anyone knows of someone who may be interested in retraining him then please get in touch.  

No new news on the other horses, they are all well and happily in training. 

See you those coming to Huntingdon – good luck to all 

Possible races and events.  

February
Thursday 20th – Sea Presenting - Huntingdon – 3.15          

March
Saturday 1st - Surrey Quest – Doncaster
Monday 3rd – Surrey Lord - Southwell 
Saturday 8th - Surrey Shadow/Surrey Moon @ Tom Clover stable Visit
Sunday 9th – Surrey Quest - Warwick
Saturday 15th – Surrey Quest - Uttoxeter
Saturday 22nd - Surrey King/Surrey Fire @ Hughie Morrison stable Visit
Saturday 29th – Surrey Shadow - Doncaster
April
Saturday 12th – Surrey Quest - Ayr