Everything was planned, the horse was working well, connections were very bullish about their chances and the selection was trading at 25/1 for a decent end of season HC. The ground was described as good racing ground ahead of the fixture, and because of the draw bias you need to be drawn high.
At this stage the only thing we didn’t know was the horses stall number as the draw was not taking place until the week of the race. As well as this, in the horses favour was the adjusted HC mark. The weather had been bad for the majority of the season, which didn’t suit the selections style of racing as he likes to bounce off the ground. The trainer had pencilled the horse in for a prep race at Newbury two weeks before the race itself, knowing that if he won he would escape the penalty as the race planned was an apprentices race and one which the selection duly won – the race had put the horse spot on for his intended target.
When the draw was made we were allotted stall 14 of the 19 runners. William Buick had been booked, he came down and rode out a couple of days before the big race and couldn’t believe how the horse was feeling up the gallops. Full of energy and self belief, the horse had really come into himself. The eve of the race we were trading at 13/2, mainly due to William Buick who had ridden a 5 timer the day before, confidence was high as he had got down to his lowest weight in 18 months just to ride the horse.
Unfortunately, the horsebox broke down and an accident had happened several miles further ahead that caused a tail back of traffic. Luckily we made it to the track with 30 minutes to spare. The vet was happy as he gave the selection the all clear to race. The horse took to the parade ring well and looked a picture of health, what happened next was not planned…
When loading up several horse were getting fractious in the gates and our fella broke the stalls after being in them for the best part of 7 minutes!
The moral of this story is never take anything for granted as the best laid plans sometimes fall flat on there face!! Although this story is fictitious, I’m sure some of the best laid plans have fallen flat on there face when being prepared for a race…
FEW HORSES TO FOLLOW OVER THE NEXT MONTH.
1. SIXTIES QUEEN – HAS SOME RACES IN HER BELIEVE CONNECTIONS NEED TO STEP THE FILLY UP IN DISTANCE TO 8F
2. SON OF FOLCA – BEEN TRAINING WELL ON THE JOHN BEST GALLOPS RATED IN 90S INTERESTING TO SEE WERE START OUT
3. LIBER NAUTICUS -LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THIS STOUTE RUNNER HAS BIG FUTURE AND FANCIED FOR THE OAKS
4. MINCE -BROKE COUPLE TRACK RECORDS LAST SEASON AND WILL AGAIN BE AIMED HIGH THIS SEASON AND A MUST FOLLOW
5.SPANISH DUKE -WELL HC RUNNER NOW IN CARE BRIAN ELLISON SURE TO WIN FEW RACES PREVIOUS WITH JOHN DUNLOP.
THE FORM GUY
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