End of National Hunt season review

In a "th'r a' off the step but oor jock" moment, here's a review of the Dodlands Steading National Hunt Season from last August to end of July.

Utilizing the skills and experience of our web team - one of whom constantly reminds us has a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics & Statistics - the various tables below are compiled to provide back-up evidence to what we felt at Dodlands.
The last NH Season had been a fine one for the yard, one in which we have achieved our best ever basic returns of 8 wins from 5 individual winning horses accumulating over £62,500 in prize money in the process.

And the 2018 Flat Season hasn't been too bad either. Just a couple of horses running, but Wor Lass won twice, runner up once (adding an additional £10,500 to the 'pot') before being retired having won 11 races all told.

National Hunt Season 2017-18*		win	2nd	3rd	4th	other
Runs & results		8	6	5	4	25
In Percentage terms		17%	13%	10%	8%	52%

		Total no. of horses that ran	Chase winners	Hurdles winners	NH Flat winners
Individual horses		16	0	3 (4 wins)	3 (4 wins)

*  statistics from 1st August 2017 - 31st July 2018
** placed runner cover those of our horses in the first 4 in a race where there is prize money won

More acutely than ever, the buying policy of the yard - concentrating on nurturing acquisitions of NH 'store' horses - was reflected in that, at the start of the season there were only 3 handicappers in the yard (Hartforth, Tomahawk Wood and the soon to depart Shades of Midnight).
Whilst believing that each horse in the yard capable of winning on their day, it has been enthralling to look back and savor the performances (winning and otherwise) of the youngsters on the racecourse over the last year.
Pride of place goes to Keyboard Gangster, who added to his initial novice hurdle win with a stunning display in a valuable Class 2 handicap at Kelso in April - in front of the full team from ITV4!
This horse was a first winner for 'Mouse' Young and his Buyers Club cohorts, similarly Dali Mail provided John & Nicola Mackin with a first ever winner as an owner via membership of the Zidane Partnership. Oh, and Eternally Yours gave Al Duncan a fillip as his first ever winner as a breeder.
It has given us enormous pleasure over the years to train for Ron & Eileen Smith, and they enjoyed several heart-stopping days at the races (Paper Roses at Carlisle, anyone?) capped by success at the double with Paper Promise.

From a strictly family stance, the day Baby Ticker won at Ayr for stable patron and longest ever supporter Charlie Whillans (father to Donald, and grandfather to Callum & Garry) will live long in the memory.

To the great credit of all at the yard is that 48% of our runners achieved a placing (1,2,3,4), a very reasonable return on our aim to be competitive in each race in which we take part.

Once again in this annual review, to reflect quality of horse and performance at Dodlands, we defer to the trade newspaper, The Racing Post and the Racing Post Ratings (RPR).
These ratings are allocated to each racehorse in each race based upon performance in that race. This differs from the formal BHA handicap rating which is allocated to each horse each time it runs, but doesn't reflect the precise level of performance achieved by horses in each race.

Taking an RPR of 100 to represent an average level of performance, the yard had 24 runs by horses who recorded one or more performances at, or at a higher level than, an RPR of 100 during the season. This compares favourably with 16 in that category in season 2016-17.
The table below lists each of these individual performances.

Horse		Race Type	Date	RPR
Baby Ticker		Handicap hurdle	April 18	103
		Handicap hurdle	March 18	112
		Handicap hurdle	February 18	113
		Handicap hurdle	January 18	113+
		Handicap hurdle	December 17	113
Paper Roses		Handicap hurdle	December 17	110
		Handicap hurdle	November 17	114+
Shades of Midnight		Novice chase	November 17	123
Eternally Yours		Novice hurdle	April 18	100+
		NH Flat	February 18	107
		NH Flat	December 17	104+
		NH Flat	November 17	103
Paper Promise		NH Flat	April 18	108
		NH Flat	February 18	109+
Dali Mail		NH Flat	April 18	102
		NH Flat	February 18	119+
		NH Flat	January 18	107+
Keyboard Gangster		Handicap Hurdle	April 18	133+
		Novice hurdle	March 18	127
		Novice hurdle	February 18	123+
Big Bad Dream		NH Flat	March 18	110
		NH Flat	February 18	103
Bluefortytwo		NH Flat	January 18	108+

Dodlands has a handful of flat performers each year, and the 2 that ran in 2018 were Wor Lass & Princess Apollo. There are also a couple of unraced 2 year olds, one of which may make a 'back-end' appearance. Similar statistical stables are below:

Flat Season 2018*		win	2nd	3rd	4th	other
Runs & results		2	1	0	0	3
In Percentage terms		33%	17%	0%	0%	50%

		Total no. of horses that ran	Turf winners	AW winners	2yr old  winners
Individual horses		2	1 (2 wins)	-	-

*  statistics from 1st April 2018 - 31st July 2018
** placed runner cover those of our horses in the first 4 in a race where there is prize money won

So, many thanks to the team of 2017-18. Sarah B, Lisa, Stuart, Garry, Callum, Pinky, Milky, Kingy, Aidan, Georgina, Murray our vet Sarah S, and of course Helen W for her patience!
And a special word of thanks to all our owners too. Win, lose or draw, we at Dodlands hope to make each moment the most exciting and pleasurable of experiences - our yard is always open.

But what about 2018-19?  We're rarin' to go and look to early November for our first runner.
Keep your eyes peeled for an up-and-coming (ed - ok, maybe end of September) Season's Preview from The Trainer himself - you know it makes sense!!  

Keyboard Gangster (orange, rails) pictured coming home at Kelso in April