Saturday 21st October 2017

Audacious Plan got our Winter team off to a great start when winning easily by 12 lengths at Huntingdon on Tuesday. AP finished 2^nd the week before on debut for us. We bumped into one that day but made no mistake at Huntingdon.

Ridden by Charlie Hammond, Audacious Plan won by 12 lengths, there was never a moments worry and some tidy bets we’re landed by his owners.

AP was the first of our Winter team to hit the racecourse, it’s great to get a winner in the bag so early. The horse looks a great purchase at just £8500. Audacious Plan looked to have lost his way for previous connections, but we’re pretty good at turning these horses around.

It would be great if Audacious Plan came back to the level of his Punchestown Festival 2^nd place a few years ago. If he does, he’ll be some fun for his owners who saw the potential in this chap.

I had a very interesting day at Bickmarsh Stud this week with our flat trainer Chris Wall.

Bickmarsh Stud had a Book 1 filly going under the hammer at Newmarket the other week. Book 1 is where all the best-bred horses go, Frankel yearlings etc. All the horses in Book 1 qualify for the 25k bonus when they win a race. We could never afford such a horse without having a 75k plus budget.

This filly in question whose dam is Lalectra is fantastically well bred.

Lalectra has thrown the likes of Van Der Neer "name changed from Travel Brother", 3^rd in the 1000gns and went on to win big prize money and races in Hong Kong and the UK for Richard Hannon. Showing Character, over £150,000 of prize money winning races for Tom Dascombe before moving to Hong Kong and winning over their too.

The sire is Charm Spirit, he needs little introduction. A 3-time Group 1 winner and winner of over one million pounds in prize money. He was top class.

This bay filly had a lofty reserve on her at Newmarket but just failed to hit the reserve price. Long story short, the stud wasn’t prepared to let her go and asked long term friend Chris Wall if he would train her. Chris was obviously very excited by this and jumped at the chance.

I’m pleased to inform we’ve agreed a lease with Bickmarsh stud for this filly and she’ll run in our name & colours next year. The aim will be to get some black type into her, first three in a Listed race. We could never ever afford such a horse, it’s a fantastic opportunity.

The filly is still un-named, she’ll likely require six or seven furlongs and could be anything. We'll also have a chance of trying to win the 25k Book 1 bonus. More details soon, shares will be available. Breeding below.

Flat racing has it’s big day of the year this afternoon at Ascot, Champions day. It’s a shame the going will be soft as this will scupper some of top class horses on show chances.

Harry Angel would be my pick of the meeting in the Champions Sprint at 2:00. Trained by Clive Cox, Harry Angel is the best sprinter around. The going would be a question mark but he'll take some beating if handling the surface.

Over at Ffos Las we have the Welsh Champion Hurdle. This looks between The New One & Clyne.

The New One has won on seasonal debut a good few times and always runs well fresh. He’s been one of my favourite horses in training over the past few years. It’s possible he’s not quite the force of old and Clyne might be able to come out on top. Conditions will certainly be in his favour and Clyne gets plenty of weight from The New One. It looks like a matchup, I'll take Clyne but wouldn't mind at all if The New One won.