What a year, the weather has tried us, especially this Spring but the team's hard work has paid off with our first Cheltenham Festival winner in the unbeaten Golden Ace. She won 4 novice hurdles including the Ryanair Grade 2 Mares' Novices Hurdle at the Festival and the Mares' Novices' Listed Hurdle back at Cheltenham in April, taking her seasonal earnings to over £85,000.
The ever tough Dashel Drasher won The Grade 2 Coral Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, and continued to run well in defeat all season, finishing best of the Brits in the Stayers Hurdle at the Festival. He is still showing enthusiasm for his racing and remains competitive at the top level accruing £58,060 in prize money this season, he will enjoy his summer holiday and we look forward to him returning next season.
Stormy Flight is proving to be a fun horse for his owners Ian and Dave, winning two this season at Exeter. Darren Langley's Pilsdon Pen also won two at his beloved Wincanton. Other dual winners this season to reward their patient owners are Bonza Boy, Leissieres Express, Petticoat Lucy and Bampton Star. Â
Little Else is a tough mare who ran well all season, winning in the mud at Newton Abbot in October. Lady KK returned to Taunton and won well. Celtic Art clearly favours Lingfield whether it is on the flat or over hurdles, winning well in November. Joe Cotton won on his chasing debut at Exeter whilst Rollo's Kingdom won on April Fools Day at Plumpton. Came From Nowhere won on his debut in a Bumper at Taunton, becoming a first winner for many of his syndicate. Fair Dinkum was our sole flat winner and we are looking forward to him returning to the racecourse this summer.
King Of The Lake ran consistently all season, finishing in the frame on all bar one of his starts, generally filling the runners up spot. providing his owners, Lake Side Racing with a huge amount of fun! The ever persistent veteran Champagne Court continues to run well, finishing second on his last two starts. Wavering Down ran well last summer finishing in the frame twice and is ready for the better ground this summer.
We have lots to look forward to next season, with some nice young horses who have been placed in bumpers and novice hurdles. We will be heading off to the sales over the next few months to try and find our next superstar, please get in contact if you would have an order to place.
A huge thank you to my brilliant team who have worked extremely hard through all sorts of weather to ensure the horses are exercised and cared for. We ae extremely lucky to have such diverse and skilled team who fully deserve the praise and results of this season!
We will be putting together a syndicate this summer for our Nathaniel 4 yo. He will be ready to run in the Autumn, he had a racecourse gallop this Spring at Warwick. Please get in touch with Georgina to find out some more!
5 TO FOLLOW
Our 5 To Follow competition was great fun and I hope everyone who took part enjoyed the interest. we raised £250 for the Injured Jockeys Fund
Our top point scorer was none other than Golden Ace with a huge 80 points!! She was unbeaten this season, winning twice at Taunton before heading to Cheltenham and fulfilling the dream of winning at the festival!
The top 5 point scorers where:
GOLDEN ACE (80)
STORMY FLIGHT (48)
DASHEL DRASHER (44)
PILSDON PEN (37)
BONZA BOY (30)
Honourable mentions to KING OF THE LAKE and LEISSIERES EXPRESS who both picked up 29 points a piece!
TOP 3:
1st £200: Camilla Scott (212)
2nd £75: Ron Delve (201)
3rd £25: Steve Wildey (186)
The Winning List:
DASHEL DRASHER (44)
PETTICOAT LUCY (10)
BONZA BOY (30)
GOLDEN ACE (80)
STORMY FLIGHT (48)