24/25 Season Overview

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The move to Higher Crockermoor last July has rewarded us with our most successful season to date. We have netted our highest prize money tally since starting training and had several high profile ITV runners who ran with real credit.

It’s always a big challenge learning the best ways to use new gallops but we felt we had a pretty good handle on things early on. This was confirmed with our 1st runner Game Colours finishing a close 2nd at Stratford then Ooh Betty and Ri Na Cuirte winning on seasonal reappearance. We continued to make minor tweaks to the horses routine through the season just attempting to find the perfect balance on the round sand gallop and the hill gallop. Without question using both gallops at Higher Crockermoor has suited the way we like to train and Ooh Betty, Ri Na Cuirte and Good Friday Fairy are examples of horses we’ve had for a couple of seasons and have thrived on these new gallops running several career best efforts. Another big change we implemented last season was changing feed company to Red Mills. It has certainly suited how we are training and I’m delighted with how the horses have looked throughout the season.

Ooh Betty continued to fly the flag on the big days for us. She was beaten less than 1/2 length in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, 2 lengths in a Grade 2 at Ascot and she also won at Kempton and Sandown.

Game Colours had a great season not finishing out of the first 3, with highlights being 3rd in a £100k handicap at Kelso, 2nd in a 16 runner handicap at Cheltenham and winning in a canter at Lingfield under now champion jockey Sean Bowen.

Things really clicked for Good Friday Fairy when bolting up at Taunton and Wincanton within 12 days and finishing his season being 2nd in a £40k handicap at Fontwell giving 18lb to the winner over a slightly inadequate trip.

With the weather still refusing to offer up any significant rainfall, the majority of the horses went out for their summer break last week and will return to training at some point in July. We have a few horses to run in May and the odd runner through the summer but will most likely be very quiet until the autumn.

We are currently hard at work sourcing new recruits for the coming season. We do buy from the sales but also have a network of individuals who help us source horses privately. We don’t have the budgets to compete at the top end in the sales ring with some of the bigger yards so we have to think a little more out of the box to find value for money and horses who still have the potential to compete on the bigger days.

All the stables are in the process of being pressure washed, disinfected and painted ready for the horses return. But for now we all need to recharge our batteries, so a few holidays beckon for the staff and then we’ll be ready to reconvene in July to make the 25/26 season our best yet.

A massive thank you to our owners, we are incredibly grateful for your ongoing support.

24-25 Season Stats. ✅

  • 69 Runners
  • 🥇10 Winners
  • £147,858 Prize Money Won
  • Over 60% Of Runners Finished In The First 4…….10 Wins, 16 Seconds, 10 Thirds & 6 fourths.
  • 🥉 3rd £100k Scottish Champion Hurdle Ayr.
  • 🥉 3rd £100k Herring Mares Final Kelso.
  • 🥉 3rd £60k Warfield Mares Hurdle Grade 2 Ascot.
  • 🥈 2nd Cheltenham April Handicap