A Scorching Update
Hot enough for you?!!
8 days since we lost Surrey Pride and we are still finding it hard to fathom –a bit raw, but the show goes on and this week we have Surrey Mist making his debut (part 2) at Sandown on Thursday. He had a stall test on Monday at Lingfield which he passed, the comments read “Representative Loads First with a Good Push”. Now he’ll try again in the (currently scheduled) 1.35, a maiden race over 7 furlongs with Pat Cosgrave on board. It’s his first run so we don’t expect too much but our record of horses who have had first runs at Sandown is good so hopefully that’s an omen!
Surrey Gold was well following his race at Ascot last Saturday although Hughie mentioned he wasn’t moving as freely as normal so a bit of soreness after the run probably as a result of losing the shoe which I think happened 6 furlongs from the line. Considering he didn’t have the best prep, lost a shoe and maybe had ground slightly faster than he would have liked it actually wasn’t a bad effort to only finish 3 lengths off the winner in a valuable class 2 race, 2 levels higher than he’s ever run before. Surprisingly the handicapper left him at 87 this week. He’s been given a very easy week to get over the run and any soreness and then we’ll discuss with Hughie the next plan. Obviously we are weather dependent so we’ll keep a close eye on that but we could just wait for the Melrose at York on August 21st (Ebor Day) – we’d be in at a very good mark and that’s only 5 weeks away and so I’m not sure we’d fit in a race before hand with the weather forecast to be warm for the next few weeks.
No new news on Surrey Princess but Surrey Knight is as good as gold, Charlie is very happy with him, said he looks in great shape and it’s all systems go to resume cantering from Tuesday. We have arranged for the new owners to go and visit the stable on August 14th – coffee and bacon rolls on arrival, visit the famous Warren Hill gallops, and for those who wish to stay on there is racing that afternoon at Newmarket.
Gran Luna has arrived back from her holiday and Surrey Quest arrives back this week so they will both start their pre-season training leading up to re-appearances on the track in October. We’ll arrange for the owners to visit late summer.
The announcement of a further relaxing of regulations on Monday 19 July marks a significant step in the return to a more traditional racecourse experience. There still maybe limits in place as the number of owners (or representatives) per horse that can attend will be determined by individual racecourses in line with their own circumstances, configuration, and available facilities. Racecourses continue to liaise with local health authorities regarding guidance specific to the local area.
Good luck to the Surrey Misters on Thursday !
Entries and Other Possible Plans/Events 2021
July
Thursday 22nd – Surrey Mist - Sandown
August
Saturday 14th – Surrey Knight owners visit
Saturday 21st – Surrey Gold – York (Melrose Handicap)
October
Saturday 2nd – Surrey Mist – Paris Longchamp (Arqana Sales Race)