In the News
A fantastic week on Merseyside last week as Dame Rose became our first Graded winner and our first winner at the Aintree festival. It was a great day for all involved, but especially for owner Carl Hinchy to have a big winner at his local track. It was also great for Alain Cawley, who claimed his first winner back after injury. It’s great to see him back riding after a bad injury and we’re delighted to have him back riding for us. Away from the racing, we’ve been working hard to further improve the facilities at Bobble Barn Farm. Twenty eight tonnes of surface has gone onto the gallops in the past week, so it’s been a busy time for all the team.
Last week’s runners
Dame Rose gave us a big pot at Aintree, winning the Grade Two Mares’ bumper. She travelled well all the way around and a great ride from Alain Cawley saw her take the lead about halfway through. She stayed on gamely in the final furlong to claim the spoils. She had already shown her battling capabilities at Doncaster before, but she took it up a notch again with a very game display, finding more and more every time a horse threatened to pull upsides. It was great to see her bounce back from disappointment at Newbury, where she perhaps wasn’t best suited by the tough going against bigger stronger horses, but given her conditions, she showed what she’s capable of. Hopefully she can keep this sort of progression going for next season, we’re very excited about her in any case.
Cobalt Marthen made his debut in a bumper at Chepstow on the Saturday and was perhaps a bit unlucky not to be closer at the finish. He lost his place about half way and despite some late headway, he finished well behind the easy winner. He should come on for the experience though and hopefully he can progress from this run next time out
This week’s runners
Chic Name has an entry in France on Monday at Auteuil. He runs in the Prix Leon Rambaud over hurdles over two and a half miles. The trip is probably on the short side for him, but he has ran well over French hurdles before at this track. There’s only six entered in opposition and there’s prize money for all the runners so it’s a great chance to pick up some winnings..
Other
We’ve taken the decision to also enter Chic Name in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown at the season’s end. It’s a case of throwing him in the deep end as he’s never run over this distance and there could be a few very good horses turning up in that, but he would get a very low racing weight and if he gets conditions in his favour, he could spring another surprise.