Round up of recent runners.

February started in the best possible fashion with Casts Tasha winning on chasing debut under Tom Bellamy. She jumped well on the whole but does just prick her ears when hitting the front, but Tom had plenty up his sleeve. Tasha subsequently ran very flat a few weeks later but we have unearthed the reason which we are now rectifying before she runs again

Dr Kananga finished 2nd on 2 occasions in February. Firstly at Fontwell then Catterick. The form of both of these races has worked out well and we felt he’s started to get back to something like his old self if not quite at his best. He ran poorly yesterday at Fontwell when starting favourite. He got very tired and stopped quickly, so tests are ongoing to unearth what happened.

Risk De Pluie followed up his winning debut for us in January with another great effort when finishing 3rd at Sandown under Tom Bellamy. Giving weight away to his rivals he led coming to the last before just getting swallowed up in the final 100 yards. He’s a lovely progressive young horse who’ll likely tackle fences next season. All being well he’ll run at Newbury on Friday.

Ooh Betty took the trip up to Market Rasen for the sole purpose of getting qualified for Newbury’s grade 2 hurdle this Saturday. On ground she’d have hated she ran a very nice race finishing 2nd giving 9 lb to the winner. She’ll be much more at home on a better surface which we hope we encounter on Saturday. I’ve had this Newbury race at the back of my head since August so I hope we can get her there in one piece and give it a good crack!

Endless Escape reverted back to hurdles at Exeter and finished 2nd giving lumps of weight away to the winner. She’s been running solidly enough over fences without setting the world alight, so I wanted to take a view of her back of hurdles. Although she ran nicely she still didn’t look the same mare that won 4 novice hurdles last season. However last Sunday under Joe Anderson she finished 2nd again, this time at Chepstow and looked like she’s right back to somewhere near her best. We have felt at home that in the last fortnight she’s started to come to herself. We now have a month before she heads to Cheltenham for the mares day where she’ll either tackle the mares novice handicap chase final or the handicap hurdle final.

Game Colours under Joe Anderson ran a cracker first run back since a wind op finishing 3rd at Doncaster, galloping right through the line strongly beaten 4 1/2 lengths to the winner. She’s a nice mare who does a lot right at home.

Ri Na Cuirte finished 2nd under Ben Jones on handicap debut at Doncaster. We stepped him right up in trip to 3 miles as we know he’s all about stamina. He’d have learnt a lot from that run. He’ll be seen to best affect next season in staying chases.

Miss Hunky Dory ran a cracker in a 2 mile mares novice hurdle at Wincanton under Tom Bellamy finishing a fast closing 2nd. Although we believe this is on the sharp side for her, she really motored home showing the promise she shows at home. She now runs Thursday at Chepstow, and we hope she can back up the Wincanton effort with another solid run.

The Galloping Bear returned from the Eider chase with an issue we have ironed out. Good Friday Fairy melted overnight when staying at Doncaster races the night before hence his disappointing effort. Bobalot returned from Warwick with an excuse that is being rectified.

We have a new recruit who arrived to us a few weeks ago, a very smart 3 year old Maxios filly. She’ll stay in for another 6 weeks to do plenty of cantering and jumping before having a summer break. Owned by an existing owner in the yard, it’s always nice to have fresh talent arrive.

Although we are on course for our personal best prize money total, I have rarely thought the horses have been in rude health all season. There have been many frustrations. We have had 33% of our runners finishing 2nd or 3rd! Although that shows they’ve run nicely, it’s been a little frustrating we couldn’t have converted a few more of those to winners! We have a lot of nice horses to run over the remaining 6 weeks of the season then into May. We hope to bag a few more winners and match or better the winners tally for last season and hit £100k in prize money for the first time.