Bluefortytwo......I love it when a plan comes together

When local Jedburgh horseman Rob Bewley brought his 4 year old Overbury gelding into the stable in October, it was with the instruction
           ‘See what you think of him, and if he’s any good then aim him at a bumper. If he does well, he goes to the Sales’.

From the get-go, Bluefortytwo was a quick learner who devoured his feed, and was forward enough to run a close second to Nicky’s Idee de Garde in an Ayr bumper at the turn of the year.
Incidentally Idee de Garde was sold privately to Dan Skelton for a fee in the region of £200k.

Last Thursday, Bluefortytwo kept his entry at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale and was acquired by James Ewart for £55,000.
The Langholm-based trainer has snapped up an exciting prospect ("he's a good 'orse" as Lester might have said), and we wish his new connections well and look forward to seeing him on the racetrack soon enough!

 

Our bumper horses

Quite overwhelming really.

Compared to the Flat, it can be a slow process when bring through young jumping stock – mainly as unbroken 3 year olds acquired from the summer NH Store Sales.

Over the years we’ve had the occasional bumper winner – Harry Flashman, Nodda High Kid, Shades of Midnight spring to mind, all of whom were all owner-bred. But never three bumper wins in the same season.
Even more remarkable is that these wins came from three individual horses - Eternally Yours, Paper Promise and Dali Mail, the latter duo sales purchases.

Dodlands Stable is not a yard that can compete financially with the bigger yards (even in the North!), so buying ready-made horses with form, or even from the Irish Point circuit has never been an option.
Having toyed with the idea for a couple of years, it was in 2014 that the Tatts August NH Sale was targeted as our prime source of potential horse stock, and together with a couple of purchases from Doncaster in recent times and youngsters from owner-breeders, we've sought to improve the quality of horses in the yard.
This doesn’t necessarily mean more winners though!

However, the 2017-18 season so far has seen our labours from that buying policy come to fruition – with a little outside help too.
You can look out for a full analysis towards the end of the season but meantime here’s a summary of our bumper season so far from 5 individual horses with form figures to the right.

• Paper Promise – 21
• Eternally Yours – 414
• Bluefortytwo – 2
• Danced Every Dance – 6
• Dali Mail – 31

3 wins, 5 places from a total of 9 runs in NH Flat races during the 2017-18 season so far, which from a medium sized Scottish yard is a fair return. And we’ve a couple more individuals who’ve yet to run this season to come.

It’s a slow burning policy and we’d love more of you to get involved in these exciting times at Dodlands Steading……you know you can always contact us here anytime.

 

A first for John & Nicola

Nothing gives us more pleasure than to provide and train a winning horse for owners who are new to horse racing.
And that landmark was met on Thursday when Dali Mail recorded an impressive victory by 18 lengths in the concluding bumper at Kelso.

It was roughly 18 months ago that John & Nicola Mackin paid a visit to the yard and spotted the grey gelding Dali Mail, on a short training break, who was grazing idly in a nearby field. Fast forward a few weeks, and the couple were delighted to form The Zidane Partnership with existing owner Al Duncan who’d bought the gelding at Goffs UK Spring Store Sale in May ‘16, and so the couple become racehorse owners for the first time.

4th place on his initial run in February ‘17 hinted that Dali Mail possessed an engine, and although it was a wee while until his next outing in January this year, that break was the making of the French-bred gelding. He was now stronger, more mature in attitude and ran a fine race to finish a close up 3rd behind two Irish Point winners making their Rules debuts for GNWTLR and Rose.

Connections were delighted.

But this was nothing compared to what was in store for John & Nicola on Dali Mail’s next outing at Kelso a few days ago, when he maintained a strong gallop throughout to shrug off his rivals 3f out and stride up the home straight on his own.
Ex semi-pro footballer John remarked in the winners’ enclosure ‘I’ve played at Wembley twice, but nothing compares to this!!’.
By contrast, Nicola couldn’t believe that such success would come her way so soon and was left speechless.

A proud moment for the yard, to bring such joy to such a genuinely nice couple!

 

And finally......How the French Stud Haras de Faydeau saw the day

Thursday 15th February was quite a day for French Stud Haras de Faydeau and here's how it was reported on their web-site blog.

Dali Mail, sold by us as a yearling, hacked up in the bumper at Kelso, by a very wide margin today. We also sold his ½ brother, Chez Castel Mail, who also won his bumper.
We have another very nice 2 year old ½ brother to him by Sinndar.

By coincidence, another horse we sold as a yearling who went over on the same lorry as Dali Mail, called Dlauro was sold today (at Tattersalls Cheltenham Sales) for €410,000 to Joseph O’Brien. Dlauro topped the sale & with the second highest price ever achieved for a point to pointer.

And that brings us full circle back to Bluefortytwo who was sold at that very same Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale!

The grey Dali Mail (Callum) is pictured during his victory at Kelso a few days ago