From the gallops - some new faces

A fine morning recently, ideal for some photos from the gallops of some of the new youngsters in the yard.

But before that, out early at the crack of sparrows were a group of our handicap hurdlers who did a couple of spins Up-the-Middle.

• Cowboy Cooper (Garry)
• Nights In Venice (Laura)
• Enemy At The Gate (Rhae)
• Eden Mill (Aidan)

Nights In Venice and Enemy At The Gate were both placed at Newcastle last Saturday, and Cowboy Cooper may appear at Hexham on Monday.
It's also nice to see Aidan again on his return to his home town of Hawick. He pops down to the yard on an ad-hoc basis and rides out a couple of lots here and there.

A luxury for the yard these days but Lot 2 consisted of 6 horses!

• 'Cormac' (Callum)
• Wor Lad aka 'Hector' (Garry)
• Ellistrin Bay aka 'Ellis' (Aidan)
• Maid of Houxty (Shay)
• Bollin Matilda (Rhae)
• Shoeshine Boy (Emily)

Shoeshine Boy & Maid of Houxty are quite fit having raced the whole season, so just the once Up-the-Middle was sufficient. Look for Maid of Houxty to reappear at Hexham on Monday.

The other horses are relative youngsters - Bollin Matilda is the elder stateswoman at 5  here with 3 runs under her belt - came up twice and did so in pleasing fashion. 'Cormac' & Ellistrin Bay were in training here in the Autumn and are now back in work after a mid winter break. They'll carry on each morning on the gallops but we're in no hurry to run them Under Rules this season although they'll have a racecourse gallop before being turned away for summer grass.
Ellistrin Bay is the 2nd foal bred by Ron & Eileen Smith out of their dual hurdle winner Ellistrin Belle.

The 3yr old Wor Lad arrived recently at Dodlands having been in training for a spell elsewhere. He's a rangy gelding, a backward type at this stage who nevertheless has impressed the staff with his likeable nature. His dam Wor Lass won 11 races including a couple when here at Dodlands. Wor Lad of course was bred by the late Les Dodds.
Like his fellow unraced companions, Wor Lad will continue in training till being turned out for summer grass. A promising gelding for a bumper next season.

Ellistrin Bay (Aidan) & Wor Lad (Garry)

Lot 3

• 'Janie' (Garry)
• Pallas Lord (Shay)
• Houxty Reiver (Chelsea)

'Janie' is back from a mid winter break, and this trio did a couple of part gallops. 'Janie' has certainly strengthened up from her break and goes about her work with zest. We'd like to think that she could make an appearance in a bumper before the end of the season but at the very least she is one penciled in for a racecourse gallop soon.

• So Many Roads (Callum)
• See My Baby Jive (Rhae)

This pair had about 30 minutes of walking in the nearby lanes which run adjacent to the gallops.

So Many Roads has taken a little more time than we would have liked to recover from his fall at Ayr at the end of February. After box rest, he's been on the horse walker these past few weeks and we took him up to Lanark last week where Andrew McDiarmid conducted a thorough checkover.
We're releived to report that there are no lingering affects.
He'll be trained back to fitness over the next couple of months and monitored closely all the time before being turned out to grass for the summer. Oh, and we might just school him over fences before that as we see that as his future. Fingers crossed.

Our Flat sprinter See My Baby Jive, who went so close last season when just touched off by a short head at Newcastle in October, is back in training and started her road work in the company of So Many Roads.

'Janie' (Garry), Pallas Lord (Shay) and Houxty Reiver (Chelsea)