Saturday gallops

A glorious spring morning, so there was no shortage of our weekend work riders lol.

Two main lots, with a third later on in the morning with a couple on the road, and a couple schooling (see story below). First lot all 6 horses did one spin on the Up-the-Middle gallop

• Shades of Midnight (Garry)
• Bollin Julie (Sarah)
• Snapping Turtle (Pinky)
• Paper Roses (Aidan)

All 4 of these horses had run recently, and so fitness is not an issue, and are just being given enough work to keep them ticking over for now.
Also joining in here were 2 of our unraced, un-named 4 year olds

• 'Reeva' (Kingy)
• 'Sting' (Callum)

Both of these are coming along nicely.

 
Lot 1 - Snapping Turtle, Paper Roses, Shades of Midnight and Bollin Julie

There were 6 horses also in Lot 2, and each did 2 pieces of work

• Tomahawk Wood (Pinky)
• Hartforth (Aidan)
• Big Bad Dream (Garry)
• Keyboard Gangster (Callum)

After a even paced gallop first time up, these 4 horses completed the second piece of work at a good pace

 
Lot 2 - Tomahawk Wood, Hartforth, Big Bad Dream, 'Brooke', Eternally Yours and Keyboard Gangster

 

Another couple of our unraced young horses in Lot 2 pleased their work riders and continue to strengthen for training.

• Eternally Yours (Sarah)
• 'Brooke' (Kingy)

 
Lot 2 youngsters :  'Brooke' (Kingy) and Eternally Yours (Sarah)

On the schooling ground

Both Night Comes In and Side of the Road are not far away from making their hurdling debuts, we just want be absolutely sure that the ground is safe for youngsters jumping for the first time. We had toyed with the idea of Newcastle yesterday and Kelso tomorrow, but we'd prefer a little bit more give in the ground (officially, going given as good).

To finish off the morning, Callum and Garry took the pair for a spin on the Up-the-Middle gallop then moved across to the schooling lane.

Night Comes In (Callum) leads Side of the Road (Garry)

Side of the Road (Garry)

TSMGW monthly awards

The eagle eyed of you regular readers will have immediately thought 'what happened to the TSMGW awards for March?'

March was such a god-awful month of poor weather on Saturdays that only the brave ventured up the hill to the gallops - yes, it's you Fozzo that we're talking about!
Yesterday, there were nearly more Saturday Morning Gallop Watchers than work riders. It was great to see Ron, Eileen, Fozzo, Nick and Al with even The Trainer putting in an appearance. Marvellous weather, great chat with Nick, as always, very open with his thoughts on what the future may hold for Shades of Midnight next season.

Anyway, this month's awards

Best Work Rider - Kingy. This young man impresses with his riding ability and friendly attitude towards TSMGW, hence he receives this award for the second time this season. His mum will soon have to buy a new cabinet for all the trophies he is bringing home. Great control, steady handling of a couple of the unraced fillies yesterday - 'Brooke' and 'Reeva'.

Most impressive horse - Keyboard Gangster. The Trainer will be having palpitations for if the horse would by chance catch a glimpse of this column, he might just find a stone to trod on to put him on the quiet list for a few days. He's been difficult to train (see the occasional update through out the season), but caught the eye of TSMGW, positively sparking in the warm sunshine.

Keyboard Gangster (Callum) on the left

And finally.....

Congratulations to Lucinda and her staff up in Kinross for their success in the Grand National with One For Arthur. Not only was the horse trained in Scotland, but is owned by a couple of ladies based locally in the Scottish Borders.

Only the second Scottish trained winner of the best race in the world, following John Leadbetter's success with Rubstic in 1979, it was indeed a red letter day for Scottish racing, and an amazing feather in the cap for the yard.

We're pleased for you!