Neil's Xmas Message

Merry Christmas Everyone

There are just a couple of days until horse racing takes a three-day festive break, with the action back on Boxing Day with several cards and the King George at Kempton. There is a lot of uncertainty at the moment around the possibility of further restrictions which could limit racecourse attendance. Hopefully, that will not be necessary, but if you cannot get to a racecourse for whatever reason, the TV coverage will be worth watching with some great action always served up.

The yard has managed to record a few winners already in December with Lord Accord winning at Taunton on 9th December, Kansas City Chief at Cheltenham on the 10th, Peltwell at Southwell on the 12th and Planned Paradise at Newcastle on the 18th.

Lord Accord is a lovely novice chaser and jockey Richard Patrick has now ridden him to two wins and a 2nd place finish in his last three starts. He has not been out of the first two in his last five runs now and he is giving his owners a lot of fun.

Kansas City Chief has been a revelation this season. I am not sure that anyone expected an 11-year-old to show any great improvement, but he seems to love running around Cheltenham with Victoria Malzard, our amateur jockey! He has now finished 1st, 3rd and 1st again in three, three-mile handicap hurdles at the track this season and the next such race around there is at the the Festival in March!

Peltwell was winning her seventh race in a row when winning well at Southwell ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies. She just keeps on improving and started this sequence rated 82. Her Southwell win was with a rating of 116, some 34 pounds of improvement and that will probably go up again when her mark is reassessed following that win.

Planned Paradise made the long trip to Newcastle worthwhile when winning with James Best in the saddle. His hurdling was really slick over the flights in the home straight and his ability to jump at speed could be a real asset to him in the future.

Whilst racing stops for three days, the horses still need caring for and the dedicated team here at the yard will make sure that this happens and then we start all over again!

Until then, I wish you all a happy and healthy festive season and hope that 2022 is a successful year for us all.