Patience required!
As the country battles with more rain than we know what to do with we along with many other trainers have been forced to leave our horses at home in hope that we get a long enough break in the weather to allow the ground to dry out. It is of course a huge bonus if you have a horse which is able to cope with these harsh conditions and a lot of races have been cutting up and haven't ended up been as competitive as they first look at the entry stage, on the other hand if you have a horse which wants better ground then you are far better just biding your time instead of just wasting a run.
Since our last blog we have sent out a few more runners with our best finish being a third on New Year’s Day. The racecourse was Catterick and the horse in question was Fort Smith a maiden over hurdles who frustrated past connections on more than one occasion across the Irish Sea. A slowly run affair was the reason for a narrow defeat in a contest which on paper looked a great opportunity for him and us to get off the mark. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as it turned into a sprint up the straight but once again he ran another solid race and is still going to provide everyone with a lot more fun throughout the season.
Jamrham ran in a novice hurdle at Leicester and ran with a lot of promise in his first start for us. Travelling well throughout he made ground at every hurdle and landed at the back of the second last looking like he was holding a chance before getting tired on very heavy ground. He's a gorgeous big type and will be now aimed at a novice chase sometime next month.
El Tiburon also ran on New Year’s Day in a bumper at Exeter which is where we started him off earlier in the season. Again the ground was described as heavy as it was when he first ran there but this time the ground was nearly unraceable, if there is a word to describe ground heavier than heavy then this was it! Hindsight is a wonderful thing and at the time I genuinely felt we were doing the right thing in running him. He travelled well before finding it all too much and James Banks rightly looked after him. He came back fine and has come out of the race really well, we live to fight another day and it's a lesson learned!
Torhousemuir is another youngster who was having his first ever run for us at Huntingdon in a bumper. This half-brother to Midnight Chorister was settled out the back early on and found himself a little detached as they turned on the gas down the back, it was only turning in when the penny finally dropped where he then began to stay on and ended up finishing a very promising 5th with everything in front of him already having previous experience. Next time out he’ll be so much sharper, he’s a horse who I’ve always been very fond of and we’ll look to find another bumper for him as soon as the ground dries up a little. We still have 3 shares remaining in him out of 10 originally available so please get in touch for more info. samthomasracing@outlook.com
Miss Giselle ran in a mare’s bumper on New Year’s Eve at Uttoxeter and after her initial run finishing 2nd at Bangor we were hopeful of another solid run. Albeit on ground similar to Bangor no one could predict the driving wind and rain which began just as they were jumping off. It was plain to see that she was never going and she did well to plug on to be 6th, however it was only when we went to see her in the paddock for the post-race debrief did we actually realise how bad the weather was and I can't blame her for not showing us her best when we could hardly stand up ourselves! She has been schooling well and will be aimed at a mare’s novice hurdle in the near future.
Ballybrowneybridge ran a solid race first time over hurdles at Huntingdon in a competitive small field mare’s novice. She was ridden just behind the leaders and was given a super ride by Richard Johnson who looked after her when he knew she couldn’t win. She was neat and tidy at her hurdles and ended up finishing last of four but wasn’t actually beaten that far at all and we have taken a lot of positives from the race and look forward to her running again soon in a similar contest.
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