Category: Updates from the yard

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Veni, vidi, Vichy

I’m just back from a week of racing in Vichy, and I couldn’t update my blog or get much else done down there because I was without a computer. But it was a successful week: Six runners with five in the money, black type accomplished for Sotka and Runaway Sparkle claimed after her good run. We started off with fifth places on Monday from Justthewayyouare and Comment Dit in “D” condition races against pretty tough company. They both ran well and were not beaten far. Justthewayyouare still bobbles a bit in the straight – he’s a big baby, really, and is still learning. Comment Dit kept plugging along in the straight in her race, putting up a scrappy, tough performance.

On Tuesday, Sotka showed her speed in the Listed race, running a good second. Ioritz Mendizabal didn’t pick up his whip once. She has a lot of natural speed, but is still inexperienced, and he was worried she would drift if he hit her, and he knew we really wanted her in the top three, so he didn’t want to risk it. I was very happy with second, and she’ll tackle another Listed next time out in August in Deauville.

Runaway Sparkle ran a solid second place on Wednesday, which was good enough to get her claimed, which was the point. She is off to sunny Spain, I think. And today, Panisette finished a good second in her claimer. She was helped by first-time blinkers, but also by truly dismal ground; she has huge flat feet, and she covered the muddy, chewed-up track better than almost all of the other 19 runners. Golden Age finished 7th, just a half-length out of the money. She has never run well on soft ground, but today she fought on pretty gamely. Neither horse was claimed, so they are on their way home.

Vichy, by the way, is a wonderful spa town, and I did manage to get in a morning of soaking at the Thermes. I highly recommend it if you’re ever down that way. I also got a chance to meet a fellow blogger Kilian Geoghegan and plenty of other interesting people. I’m exhausted at the moment, but more to come soon: Hold That Emperor, Layman’s Terms and Justthewayyouare in Maisons-Laffitte on Tuesday and Talawa in Dieppe on Wednesday. Just around the corner: Hi Shinko gets ready for his comeback on the fibersand.

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Newmarket success; victory in Vittel

I came back from Newmarket on Saturday with three new additions to the yard: Fortunateencounter (Fortunate Encounter, for those of you who weren’t able to make the split), a three-year-old French-bred Muthathir filly; Magical Flower, a three-year-old Oasis Dream filly with solid form, and a still-unnamed two-year-old Majestic Missile filly who we hope will soon be called Original Cyn. The three-year-olds should be ready to go for the Deauville season in August. The two-year-old will take a bit more time, but should definitely run this fall.

All three arrived Sunday morning early, just as we sent Comment Dit down to Vittel, where she won. Runaway Sparkle traveled north to Le Touquet, where she finished third. Hold That Emperor was in much tougher company today in Chantilly, where he could only manage 6th. We’ll look for something easier for him out in the country next.

Next out will be Strictly Rhythm on Thursday, where she will again tackle the Tierce handicap, this time at Longchamp.  It is an evening meeting, which also features the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, a big garden party and after-race fireworks, so it should be a fun night all around.

With the new horses from Newmarket, there should be a busy summer ahead for the yard.

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Picking up the places

We’ve had three horses in the money over the past week: Hold that Emperor was 4th in Maisons-Laffitte last Wednesday, Justthewayyouare ran a very nice third in Deauville on Thursday, and Talawa was third today in Aix-les-Bains.

Panisette was unplaced last Tuesday at Compiegne, but showed a lot of progress since her last time out and should do well next time, which will be at the end of this week. Layman’s Terms, on the other hand, was disappointing in Maisons-Laffitte, but she doesn’t do herself any favors with her antics in the starting gate. She loads fine, but the minute she’s in she rears. I don’t know how to fix this; putting her in the gate for more training will only wind her up more and is dangerous for everyone. Once she settles down, she will be a very useful horse.

This week, Rose Fleur will run in Deauville on Wednesday. Panisette is likely to go to Clairefontaine on Thursday and there will be two or three runners in the claimer in Deauville on Friday. I’m away in Newmarket at the horses in training sale, so Con will be handling the logistics. The catalog for the sale seems pretty promising, and I’ll be looking for at least two horses for owners here and hopefully bringing back a few new owners who want to make money racing in France.

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An easy win for Sotka

It is a rare and wonderful thing to be watching a race and realize you’re going to win it before it’s even half-way through. Sotka jumped out of the gates in Maisons-Laffitte on Monday and never looked back, galloping off an easy winner by two and a half lengths. Ioritz Mendizabal didn’t even have to pick up his stick. Monday morning, when it was pouring rain, I thought we would have to scratch her. But then I went down to the track and found that the going wasn’t worse than soft, so we had to take our chance. I’m very glad we did.

Golden Age, on the other hand, did not run well in her race. She looked fine cantering down to the start, but she never traveled a decent stride once they were racing. She seems fine, so we’ll have to put it down to the ground for her. She’s still not there in her coat yet, either, so she may just be having an off week.

We have a quiet week ahead, with no runners until next Tuesday or Wednesday. Time to rest up, regroup and get ready for July.

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Layman’s Terms wins, Comment Dit 2nd

It was a productive Sunday for us – Layman’s Terms won nicely in Durtal and Comment Dit finished second in Strasbourg, beaten just a neck. I actually thought it might be the other way around, since Comment Dit had an easier entry. But she was interfered with two furlongs out, which knocked her off her stride. She fought back for second, but couldn’t quite catch the winner.

In Durtal, Layman’s Terms beat a stronger field, but not before nearly beating us, first. She is a difficult filly – lots of ability but very, very tightly wound. It took two of us to anchor down in the presentation ring, but she wasn’t having any part of it when Fabien wanted to hop aboard. We ended up taking her down to the start in hand (that’s twice now, so this has got to be sorted), and she again reared in the starting gate. But her timing is right, and she hit the ground running as the gates opened. Fabien managed to settle her in second, then kicked on when they turned for home and no one could catch her. She won by a length and a half. I was in Durtal while I sent the lads out to Strasbourg – looks like I chose wisely. Fun part about winning at the country tracks is that they give you a basket full of regional food and wine goodies, so we came home happy (we also came home with a little over 13,000 euros, so that also makes the trip a little shorter).

Tomorrow Sotka and Golden Age run here in Maisons-Laffitte. Sotka is in the five-furlong maiden, and she is the favorite, but we won’t run if the ground is too soft. I’ll have a look and decide tomorrow. Golden Age will run in the claimer regardless.

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Another win, plus some places

It’s been a little hectic so tough to keep up the blog – I’m way behind because we had a win last Sunday in St. Malo with Rose Fleur and a  few places with some of the others. Rose won nicely. She is a huge filly, and it was almost like watching an adult compete against ponies – she literally towered over the opposition. She will be a better three-year-old, but seems to be racing well despite her ungainly size.

Strictly Rhythm tried her first handicap on Sunday at Chantilly, and that went less well. She was slightly out of sorts in the morning and I almost declared her a non-runner, but decided to go ahead after all. I think she is having some serious female issues at the moment, and she had a bit of a stress colic that passed quickly, but is still worrying. We decided to run her from behind, because I expected there is usually better pace in these big handicaps than in the condition races. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case, and they were again crawling until the final turn. She accelerated well in the stretch to finish 8th of 16, and she came back fine, which was the essential. I’m going to give her a bit of a break and have her well sorted for her next try, which should be on Bastille Day at Longchamp.

Talawa managed to snag a 5th place in a claimer in Aix-les-Bains, but she is still not really catching on to the game. It was a seriously weak field, and blinkers didn’t give us too much help. She needs more time and may go to the sales. We also were unlucky at Compiegne on Tuesday with Justthewayyouare finding the company a bit tough after moving up both in class and distance. He finished only 6th, but he is a good horse and we’ll find something a little easier next time out to give him confidence. He’s a very laid-back guy, and has a lot of potential. George had a crack at an easy handicap that day and didn’t really fire, either, but I’ve not really been able to get him back in top condition since his Guernsey trip. I’m not sure why, so I’ll keep trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, he’s on the easy list.

Things looked up yesterday with Hold That Emperor running a very nice third in Chantilly. He might have done even better than that, but we tried to relax him behind another horse, which wasn’t a good idea in the end. He was just behind the eventual winner, but he pulled like crazy and then lost his balance a bit when finally given room to run. Next time out, we’ll let him find his action and just roll along, and if that happens to be out front, so be it.

We head out to the country on Sunday with two fillies hoping to break their maidens: Layman’s Terms in Durtal and Comment Dit in Strasbourg. Then it’s back to home turf on Monday with Sotka in a maiden in Maisons-Laffitte and Golden Age in the claimer. Rolling along…

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A decent week, and more ahead

We’ve had all four runners so far this week in the money, if not as close to the winners’ circle as we had hoped. Layman’s Terms ran fifth in Le Lion d’Angers in a good race. She was not beaten far and she made tremendous progress from her disastrous debut in Lyon. She is a filly with a lot of speed, but she has been too hot-headed so far to run well. But she comported herself much better in Lion d’Angers, so we can look for better things from her. Once she gets it, she’s going to be a very nice filly.

We finished fourth and fifth yesterday in the claimer at St. Cloud, but not in the order I had expected. Golden Age ran very well and closed to steal fourth from her stablemate, Comment Dit. Golden Age ran so well I’m a little surprised she wasn’t claimed; she probably will be next time out, and I’ll be sorry to see her go. I had expected a much bigger run from Comment Dit, but she seemed discouraged by the long uphill straight and didn’t put in much of an effort. We’ll look for something easier for her next time out.

Today in Maisons-Laffitte, Sotka took fifth in a Listed race for only her second time out. She was only beaten three lengths and is showing tremendous promise.

Panisette went to Bordeaux this noon for her race tomorrow, and Runaway Sparkle and Twilight Allure will leave for Lyon shortly. I’m told the track in Lyon hasn’t improved since we last saw it, but we’re going ahead anyway because if we pull out at this stage, we’ll have to wait another eight days to enter and both horses need the run. Runaway should have a good chance, but I have no idea how she’ll handle the ground. In any case, we’ll all be in the same boat, so the mudlarks will win the day – whoever they are.

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Are we sure we’re still in France?

It’s been warm and dry in most of France for far too long; we’re in the middle of a drought that has turned most of the Ile de France into a dustbowl and the turf courses are turning hard as pavement despite watering. Consequently, tracks that can are watering aggressively – and that includes Lyon, France’s second city about six hours Southwest of us. So we thought we would have four runners there Wednesday and Thursday. When we left Paris it was warm and sunny. When we got to Lyon, it was cold and pouring rain. Con Marnane was sure we made a wrong turn and ended up back in Ireland. The rain on top of the watering turned the track into a heavy mess, and our two fillies struggled on it. Golden Age finished only fifth and Rajasthani Princess was right behind her (running better, actually, than I had expected).

Since the weather was not predicted to get any better, we decided to scratch Hold That Emperor for Thursday and go ahead with Talawa. We didn’t think she’d like the ground, either (and she didn’t), but she needed the run and we had no other good entries coming up for her. Hold That Emperor, on the other hand, is a very nice colt and we didn’t want to waste a race in Lyon. Unfortunately, by declaring him a non-starter, we have to wait eight days before he can race again, so he loses what would have been an excellent back-up entry in St. Cloud next week. But there will be other chances for him. Talawa, on the other hand, will go the claiming route. Hopefully she will run better on better ground, because she was extremely unbalanced in Lyon, and also managed to chuck Fabien off on the way to the start.

We have an easy weekend now, meaning I get to go to the French Derby on Sunday and actually just enjoy the day. We’ll pick up next week with runners in Angers, St. Cloud and Maisons-Laffitte.

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“Joostwayooo” wins in Chateaubriant

I’ve been too busy running around France with two-year-olds to catch up here, but things have been going pretty well. Justthewayyouare surprised all of us to win on Saturday in Chateaubriant. He really will be a better three-year-old because he’s a big, gangly colt, and he will certainly want a longer distance than the five-and-a-half furlongs he got on Saturday. But he was good enough for a relatively easy field there and Fabien Lefebvre rode him perfectly and survived a huge leap across the track in the home stretch. The only person who wasn’t pleased with this was the track announcer, who found his name completely too much to handle and so ignored the horse in the call for the whole race. He was forced to stumble through something when we crossed the line first, and came up with “Joostway000,” which was, I guess, close enough for jazz.

On Sunday, we sent Comment Dit (French, sort of, for “how say” – I think they were trying for “how do you say that,” but didn’t quite get it right) to Salon de Province, where she finished a good second (of only four runners, but who’s counting?). We had Twilight Allure and Runaway Sparkle (another unfortunate name that sounds vaguely Shetland pony-ish) in another race there, and they finished third and nowhere.  It was a very strange race; there were eight runners, seven of them running for the first time. The favorite was the experienced one – three runs, three seconds. When they broke out of the gate, the favorite, on the far outside, lost not only her jockey but the entire saddle. I have no idea how this happened – I’ve never seen it before. It’s not like the saddle turned – it just fell to the ground like it was never girthed up. In any case, she went bowling along out front naked except for a bridle, and Sparkle went bowling right after her. The only problem is, when they got to the turn, the loose horse decided to go straight, leaving seven debutants suddenly leaderless. Legs flew everywhere as horses decided whether to listen to their jockeys telling them to turn or listen to their instincts telling them to follow the girl who looked like she new where she was going. The jockeys won, but it wasn’t pretty. Sparkle ran on well to hold third, and Twilight was never really in the game because she was too busy getting her tongue tangled up in the bit, which severely hindered her ability to breath. She’ll have a tongue-tie next time out, so maybe she can concentrate on moving her legs.

Today we sent Rose Fleur to debut in Toulouse, where she finished a very good second. Her jockey lost a stirrup in the home stretch, which slowed her down a bit, but I don’t think we would have won in any case. She debuted well and will come on from this. She is a huge filly and will also be better at three, although it’s clear she can run a bit now.

Tomorrow it’s off to Lyon for Golden Age and Rajasthani Princess tomorrow and Talawa and Hold That Emperor on Thursday. I haven’t been able to be at all the races, because there is just too much traveling involved, and it is strange to watch my horses on TV instead of being there. Luckily, jockeys have cell-phones. I made it to Wissembourg, Angers, St. Cloud, Longchamp and Chateaubriant last week; Toulouse and Salon de Province just weren’t possible. I will to go Lyon, though, and then we have a bit of a breather through the weekend.

 

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Emperor and Royal Fortune run well

Hold That Emperor didn’t disappoint us in Angers on Tuesday running a good third and missing second by a half length. The winner was clearly the best on the day and we wouldn’t have beat her, but only a bit of inexperience kept us from nabbing second. He has a bright future. Talawa was a bit lost on her debut run, but she’ll learn from this and better at six furlongs (or longer). Layman’s Terms also got a bit worked up for her debut in Lyon, but she, too, will run better next time out.

Royal Fortune was fifth on her debut today at Longchamp today, handling herself very well against the unbeatable Wesley Ward. The American trainer has come over here with a batch of two-year-olds that he hopes to take on to Royal Ascot, and he as four wins from four runs. The commentators at Equidia asked me what I thought of it all. What can you say? He brings over pumped up monsters that look like they’re at least four, they debut wearing blinkers and tongue ties and we’ll never see them on a racecourse again after this year. The steroids are well-timed so the withdrawal period is respected and they won’t test here.

Tomorrow we debut Delryaz at St. Cloud. Too cheap for the likes of Wesley. Let’s see what happens.