Saturday morning gallops

With a few youngsters coming back into the yard to pick up on their education and a couple of horses having raced the previous day, Saturday morning was a bit of a mixed bag.

In Lot 1, Onecallaway and Stainsby Girl did a couple of spins 'Up-the-Middle', completing a nice piece of work second time. Onecallaway didn't run well on her debut in a bumper at the start of February but she shows enough at home to suggest that she may not have been 100% that day. She'll be given another chance to shine in the next couple of weeks.

A couple of youngsters had a gentle canter prior to their work being stepped up in the next week or so - our Durban Thunder filly and Rob Bewley's Arcadio gelding. You may remember that both were Tatts Ire August Sales acquisitions last year.

Lot 2 was 6 in number with Dali Mail, Paper Roses, Baby Ticker, The Boo Box, Big Bad Dream and Keyboard Gangster.
Of this sextet, Keyboard Gangster and Paper Roses worked at a nice pace second time up.

The Boo Box (Rebecca) leads Dali Mail (Ryan)

And the final lot of the day, Danced Every Dance and Princess Apollo (our Flat sprinter) were taken for a stroll in nearby lanes with Friday's Musselburgh scorer Side of the Road having a gentle canter.
But back to the gallops for a couple of spins and Eternally Yours, Honda Fifty, Paper Promise and our young Yeats filly were put through their paces.

Honda Fifty (Ryan) gives a lead to Paper Promise (Leah) and 'Margaret' (Rebecca)

 Youngsters return

As touched on above, several of our younger horses have come back into the yard for a second spell of training. Purposely, we take our standard approach with these National Hunt stores. They'll have been in training for a few weeks in late autumn before having a couple of months away from our yard to mature and strengthen. This second spell will last a bit longer - maybe 10-12 weeks - before again being given time to strengthen and mature, this time at summer grass.

'Mila' (Durban Thunder filly), 'Hope' (Shantou filly), 'Margaret' (Yeats filly, a half sister to Eternally Yours) and 'Rob' (an Arcadio gelding sent along by Rob Bewley) are all now back in the yard. You may have noticed that we give the stable name 'Rob' to all the Bewley horses - makes it easier for the lads to remember, apparently.
'Seb', Mouse Young's exciting Prince Flori gelding is down the road with Gary Rutherford for some pre-training. Incidentally, Gary also has our Midnight Legend 3yr old gelding who is completing his education. This is another sibling of Eternally Yours and all being well he may appear in the yard for a couple of weeks towards the end of April.
Also in is Princess Apollo, the Chamberlain brothers flat sprinter who ran a few times last season. She's being prepared for another flat campaign.

The Yeats filly leading Paper Promise

Musselburgh Friday revisited

It may only have been a 0-100 handicap hurdle, and won by a horse with a BHA rating of 78 but the whole yard were absolutely delighted with the victory of Side of the Road on Friday at Musselburgh.
She's a lovely, kind-natured mare with outstanding conformation and an exciting NH pedigree, the race provided our proudest moment of the season.

So we make no excuses for showing the photo below from the winners enclosure with Side of the Road flanked by Al Duncan, Mark 'Mouse' Young and Craig Nichol.