Shoveling

It seems I’ve had my head down shoveling lots of things since Cagnes, settling back in and getting ready for spring. We’ve had a bit of racing, but nothing too exciting yet. Elbow Beach ran 5th in Deauville, and is now having a bit of an easy recovery time because she worked hard through Cagnes and needs to digest it all a bit. The three races in short succession triggered a bit of a growth spurt (she’s only just turned three), but now she seems to be coming back to herself and will either run at the end of the month or early April.

Milly had a crack at Fontainebleau, the first time on the grass and the first time at a longer distance of 2,200 meters. She got a horrible trip, trapped on the rail, which is not a good place to be for a tiny horse like her. She finished out of the money, but actually ran decently and handled the surface and distance with no trouble at all. She’s brightening up in her coat and seems quite well, so she’ll either run in Amiens on March 28 or we’ll take her out to the country on April 1, where she can share a truck with Hard Way, who is likely to finally make his racecourse comeback after a year and a half off! There’s a tiny handicap for him at Lisieux on April 1, and I think he’ll give it a go.

Strictly Rhythm has basically thrown in the towel, so we’re looking for brood mare solutions for her. She ran a good three-year-old season, and she was very unlucky not to win (finishing placed just behind group and listed horses). But she’s not training on as a four-year-old, so she should find other options. Her paper is quite good, and she’s a lovely big horse, so she’ll do well as a mom, I think.

We have two unraced three-year-olds in the yard, Triple Tonic and It’s Only Money. Both have had various issues that stopped us from getting them to the track last year, so I hope we’re on track now working toward a debut. I don’t know when that will happen for either of them yet, but hopefully this spring.

And the fun horse in the yard, Deep Ocean, should have a very good chance to win one in Lyon on Tuesday. He’s doing very well and will be back racing right-handed, which is his preferred direction, and against less-than-stellar company, just like we like it!

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