Newcastle Tapeta work-out

On Friday, Callum and Aidan took a couple of our horses down the road to Newcastle for a work-out on their all weather gallop. On days where racing is  planned for the evening, Newcastle offer their Tapeta surface for an hour of so before 8am, so it was an early rise for Nick Bannerman (of Potassium Partnership) in particular who accompanied our team across the border.

Tapeta is a fairly recent addition to the range of all weather surfaces available to racecourses and training centres, first developed by NH legend Michael Dickinson about 15 years ago. This surface is also used at Wolverhampton (also owned by ARC), whereas tracks like Lingfield, Kempton, Chelmsford and Dundalk use Polytrack. Racing at Southwell is on Fibresand.
Both Callum and Garry (who has ridden numerous times at Newcastle in actual Flat races) are very complimentary about the surface, and we do intend to pay further visits to Newcastle for early morning gallops as we put the finishing fitness touches on our horses returning after a break.

Tomahawk Wood and Shades of Midnight worked together over 2 miles taking things at a steady pace before letting their horses have their head in the home straight.  Given the right ground, 'Shady' might re-appear at the end of this month (Carlisle or Ayr), while we're contemplating kicking off 'Chuckie's' chasing career with a novice handicap mid November.

Shades of Midnight being washed down after his morning gallop

Saturday Gallops

Bit of a damp and dreary morning, with steady drizzle which is good news for the jumping tracks in the area, but not so enjoyable for our work riders. The 'on holiday' Aidan (thanks for your efforts over the last week), Milky and Kingy joined Garry and Callum riding work on three lots, and as an added bonus Garry gave Tomahawk Wood a short sin after his Newcastle exertions the day before.

First lot - Snapping Turtle leads Bollin Julie and Paper Roses, with the twins (Hartforth and Goodknight Percy) tracking in rear

The first lot did 3 pieces of work, with Paper Roses showing us enough in fitness terms to have a race at Kelso on 5th November pencilled in. Second lot did a couple of spins on the gallop with Milky providing an encouraging report on Baby Ticker.

Second lot - Keyboard Gangster, Baby Ticker, 'Katie' (hidden) with 'Cliff' and 'Arthur' in rear

Our third lot consisted mainly of our new 3yr olds coming up the gallop just the once, led by Shades of Midnight who was given a light stretch having worked over 2 miles at Newcastle the day before.
'Zidane' gave Garry the feel of a horse with a touch of class (it's early days though....), whilst we were delighted with the performance over the last few days of our trio from Tim Reed's education yard. 'Reeva' is a beautifully bred Oscar filly, not overbig but athletic looking. 'Brooke' has improved markedly in conformation since we bought her in August - she is actually a 4yr old - and works well. And lastly, 'Sting' was ridden by Callum and we think he's a nice horse who will need a little time to strengthen.

Third lot - 'Shady' leads 'Zidane', 'Reeva', 'Brooke' and 'Sting'