It has been so grim in Newmarket this spring that I'd postponed my seasonal return to the saddle, but I decided that I could wait no longer and took Panto out with John and Ex Con this morning. It was great to be back on the heath on horseback but I'd be lying if I said it feels in any way summery yet at HQ.
The horses are looking great though and with various weather delays we've now got a few back on track. On Tuesday we head to Kempton with two-year-old Orla's Rainbow (above and right, ridden by Iva Milickova in the red cap), who is having his first run. He is familiar with Kempton, however, having been sold there in early April at the Goffs breeze-up sale.
We're really looking forward to seeing him run. He's quite a character - rather full of himself but that also means he's very bold and forward-going when he's in training out on the heath. You'd think he'd lived in Newmarket all his life.
Ex Con had quite a bit of time off last year with a slight tendon injury. He's been brought back into work gradually and is now galloping again. It's great to have him back. Watching him in action it's always hard to imagine he's a winner but he has in fact won five times. His slightly strange gait has been no barrier to success and he vies with Panto for the title of the kindest and most loveable horse in the stable, if not the world. He's the biggest horse we have on the place and he has a heart to match his huge frame.
From a very selfish viewpoint I'm getting particularly excited about one horse in the stable: Ruby In The Dust. It's not necessarily because I think she's the next Quevega (though I certainly won't complain if she is) but I've owned her since I bought her for £500 as a yearling and now, at the age of five, she is almost ready to run.
She is in the process of being syndicated and we have about 50% of her 'spoken for'. We'll see how she runs on her debut, which I hope will be in a bumper in mid-June, before the syndicate is finalised but there are already some really nice people involved and I hope we might all have as fun as the Tri-Nations Partnership had with Anis Etoile.
Ruby is pictured above, working on the Al Bahathri with Ex Con. They are probably the biggest and smallest horses in the stable respectively so they're unlikely workmates but they both did the job well and it will be great to see them both in action on the racecourse before too long.
Time to sign off now as the dogs are telling me it's time for their walk down the July Course so I'd better not keep them waiting.
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