Midweek Gallop Review

Work days at Dodlands (where several of the string are ridden at a faster pace to replicate the finish of a race) tend to be Wednesdays and Saturdays, so below you'll find a summary of this Wednesday's gallop.
Following their final flat meeting of the season on Monday, Musselburgh Racecourse allowed trainers to gallop horses post-racing and we duly dispatched Garry and Callum up the road with 4 of our unraced horses. Rob Bewley's two - Jimmy's Jet and the 4 year old Leading Light ('Murphy') - plus the Libertarian gelding ('Carter') and Neigh Botha. Callum Bewley and Craig Nichol were also on hand.
They completed the full 2 mile bumper trip, at a reasonably steady pace for unraced geldings. Just like a normal bumper then.........

So on Wednesday, that quartet just did their normal morning exercise rather than form part of any 'work' group.

Lot 1
Out the yard before the sun had risen. Actually it was such a grey morning that it was a few hours later before the sun appeared so there aren't any photos from this lot.

• Honda Fifty (Garry) and Eternally Yours (Joanna Walton) did a nice piece of fast work second time after coming up at a steady pace with their 3 gallop companions first time. Eternally Yours went very well and considering she is rated 25lb more than Honda Fifty, he went exceptionally well too.
  Both horses can't be far away from a run, it's only the ground conditions (generally good) that need to soften up a bit.
• Monday Muselburgh post race galloper Neigh Botha (Callum) and race-fit Shoeshine Boy (Leah) just came up the once as did 'Derek' (Connor), a young horse building up his conditioning and fitness.

Lot 2
A bit brighter, so a couple of photos.

Stainsby Girl (Georgina) & Lady Villanelle (Shay)

A couple of pairs of horses were working in this lot which comprised of 6 horses. They came up once as a group then split into 3 sets of two for the second pass.

• Given she had been such a hard puller in her races, in previous seasons Stainsby Girl (Georgina) had been restricted to working solo. However she has appeared more relaxed of late so she's now working in pairs. Despite being a dual 2 mile hurdle winner, she wouldn't be the fastest at home and her work with Lady Villanelle (Shay) appeared to confirm this but both work riders reported that they were happy with their charges.

Nights In Venice (Connor) and 'Marcus' (Callum) and

• Tracking the pair of mares at a nice pace by about 10 lengths were Nights In Venice (Connor) and 'Marcus' (an unraced Frammassone gelding) ridden by Callum. The level of performance on the gallops shown by this pair has been night and day compared to this time last season with Nights In Venice in particular going very well. He's had the benefit of an outing last season, which can bring on a horse enormously, so 'Marcus' comes out of this with credit too.
• Ellistrin Star (Laura) and Undecided (Joanna) are not quite as far forward and completed a second pass at a steady pace

Lot 3

• As in the previous groups, 6 horses came up once at a steady pace before a couple did a piece of faster work. Laura (on Enemy At The Gate) and Callum on Stolen Money were the workers this time and both were happy.
• Our 3 year old, 'Sid', completed a satisfactory gallop then 'Murphy' (Joanna), 'Carter' (Leah) and Jimmy's Jet (Georgina) came up again at a very steady pace after their exertions a couple of days ago.

Enemy At The Gate (Laura) with Stolen Money (Callum)

Lot 4
After the breakfast break, just a piece of roadwork for couple of horses who have recently returned to the yard to round off the morning. 'Emily', a 'Paper' sibling, and the 4 year old Sulamani gelding So Many Roads.

We were astonished how tall So Many Roads was when he came back into Dodlands a week or so ago. He had been in for a couple of months in late Spring and we measured him then at 16.0hh. The 'stick' was brought out again on Wednesday and he is now 16.1hh - he'd grown an inch in 5 months!
Good news but that growth spurt had taken its' toll on the gelding's body condition so his roadwork, complete with bungee fittings, will be a week or so longer than usual. The improvement though is now clear to see and we'll continue for another 10 days or so before he moves onto the gallops where he'll naturally tighten up.

So Many Roads (Callum)