Warm and sunny in London this evening – here for the memorial service for the much missed former BHA Chair Joe Saumarez Smith – between a brief visit to Paris and a trip to Doncaster sales. The trip to Paris was made unforgettable with a wonderful win for the recently acquired Hamandio at Auteuil yesterday – to see our family colours carried to victory on “Grand Steep” day at the home of French jump racing was emotional and humbling.
Hamandio – a beautiful horse expertly prepared by Noel and Amanda and their team and wonderfully ridden by James
Bought by Kit with a view to riding him himself back in the UK, one quick run before we bring him home turned into the most fantastic day – not sure what the plan is now!
At Perth last week our runners ran with great credit; 6 of our 9 runners finished within 6l of the winner – highlights being bounces back to form for Mack the Man and Beat the Retreat, both narrowly denied in 2nd. Artic Mann, Maillot Blanc, Not in Kansas and Bel Amigo all ran very well; Everyday Champagne was a well beaten 4th in the end but had run much more encouragingly, jumping with the zest we saw last summer, he should be bang on next time. Artic Row was a little disappointing but he needs a galloping track and fences to show his best, Master Bricklayer unseated at the first when badly bumped by the eventual winner.
Orkney Blue – one of several good prospects we were delighted to buy at Goffs this time last year
On to Doncaster Sales tomorrow, a happy hunting ground for us over the years and we will be hoping to buy several horses. We are delighted with our recruits from last years sales proving that with careful research it is possible to buy good horses for sensible money (if buying a racehorse can be described as sensible!). There are now 239 horses scheduled to be sold on Wednesday alone, mostly young point to pointers – we have it down to a “long list” of 54 so far and will be further whittling that down over the next 24 hours. That’s before we even get to the 225 entered to be sold on Thursday, those are mostly horses “off the track” and we will be hoping to buy one or two of those as well. See you there!