That's racing!

Clear Sailing, a new horse to us, ran for the first time on Friday for his new owners, Circle of Trust and ran a blinder, just getting pipped at the post by one of our good neighbour, Julia Fielden's horses. Obviously frustrating as to be so close to a winner and not to get the result is harsh, but at least we were beaten by a fellow trainer from Exning! The final outcome was a 'nse' or nose! The horse was fine, a real professional who is very chilled until he gets to the paddock and then he lights up a bit. He was bought out of a claimer and his past owners did let us know he was a bit of a handful, which was good of them. However, he has been as right as rain and not a problem at all. Dickie or I take him out on his own or with one other which I think helps him immensely. As Saturday was a lovely, sunny day with us he went out in the paddocks for the day, had a lie down and a kip and enjoyed himself. We are looking forward to the next run.

Always the Sun nearly had a race the other day! My fault as I put a cross noseband on her, which she has worn before but was not happy on the day of the race. She gave the jockey a horror of a ride to the start, dumping him and then refused to come out of the stalls, let alone race! If she does not like something, she lets you know and nothing, but nothing changes her mind! She hopped back on the lorry afterwards as good as gold, had a haynet on the way home and I am only just about speaking to her now! However, all is not lost as she jumps like a bunny and was entered for Huntingdon last week. As the ground was still pretty hard by us, even by mid morning, I decided to take her out, but she will have a go shortly and I think she will enjoy it. She won't be wearing a cross noseband though! She does make me smile though as despite her little quirks as butter would not melt in the stable and you could let a kid look after her.

The others are all coming along great guns. The coats are falling out and hopefully this warm weather is here to stay for a bit.

I am looking forward to a day at Cheltenham this week - always a brilliant day out..

Frustrations and fun!

I was very pleased with Always the Sun recently as she finished third over a longer trip which seems to suit her better now. She is a tough little thing and a little opinionated to ride at home, but she tries really hard. Sometimes she is just not able, but she tries and that suits me! She ran again last week and was really disappointing, running well through the race and fading fast. We are on the case though and hopefully she will come back to form for her next race. She really does deserve a win just for perseverance.

We had a trip out to Cottenham point to point at the weekend and to watch Dickie Collinson ride his own horses - he had his whole string out and then was off to Lincolnshire to ride a 5th on Sunday! He has a couple of nice horses to keep an eye on for future dates and we wish him a load of luck this year. He rides out for me everyday and is the most responsible and reliable rider you could wish for. He was pretty tidy over the fences too on Saturday! He has just renewed his conditional licence so anyone looking for a conditional or point to point jockey, should give me a ring and I will pass you on to him!

It was a good days racing despite the fog and being freezing and I have to say the crowd there was a little larger than Wolverhampton the previous week!

Snow at Marsh Stables

Winter arrives at Marsh Stables with a few inches of snow, which was stunning for the first two days and then a bit of a pain to be honest! The horses seemed to enjoy their time out in the paddock though.

Welcome Releaf and Tabi had a good mooch round, a bit of a play and then were happy enough to come back in!

The younger residents, known as Freddy and Harry, had a really good play, bucking and kicking about until the hay seemed a better option.

You forget how low the sun is during the winter, until you take a photo right into it!

Cliff celebrates 60 yrs in racing

Last week, we celebrated Cliff's 60 years in racing. Starting as a mere 14 yr old as apprentice to Noel Murless, Cliff worked his way through the last 60 years, riding a winner for the Queen, and in a later period rode horses such as JO Tobin, Heathersett, Shergar, Sonic Lady, Kayf Tara, Singspiel and Pilsudski. Know as 'Cliff the Clock' his ability to count his way through a gallop is legendary in town - he can ride a gallop at any speed and be within the second every time! He bought Marsh Stables a fair few years ago and has enjoyed plenty of success there over the years. In training now, he has Toballa and Ballesteam, both out of his good race mare, Ballgown. Toballa ran well on Sunday with Cliff in attendance as travelling head lad and he is looking forward to a good winter on the all-weather with her. Never one to sit still for long, Cliff recovered incredibly well from a couple of huge operations last year to remove a brain tumour and now is back riding out daily on Bertie - not bad when you are over 70!!..

Sue organised a great day for Cliff last week at Newmarket Racecourse. He was surrounded by friend and family as well as some racing legends which included Lester Piggott, Julie Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute.

He even got a mention in the Newmarket Journal! -

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_newmarketnews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=460263

Finally a runner!

After a few weeks of the 'wrong' ground or having horses ballotted out of races, we finally had a runner in a new arrival, Wrenington. He arrived in fine fettle a couple of weeks ago and has been going well since. He ran at Wolverhampton on Friday, finishing a creditable fifth and we are looking forward to his next day out. He returned well and has spent a couple of days relaxing in the paddock with his mates, so the calendar is out again now!

We also had another new arrival, Calypso Girl, who kindly arrived from Dave Evans. She is taking a bit of time off, again out in the paddocks with Always the Sun and Wild by Nature. She will return to training shortly after her little break and again we look forward to seeing her on the course.

As much as I hate rain, our paddocks could do with a bit and so could a couple of horses. Our top hack, Tonto has worked out how to get through the electric fencing dividing his paddock (in a vain attempt to manage the limited grass growth!) to what must be greener grass on the other side. How he gets through is a mystery as the posts are not even slightly slanted and the tape remains taut and in place. Camera's are going up! As he won't go near the tape when we are in the field, I really think he is enlisting outside help to move a post for him!

John Virgo visits yard

We were very lucky to meet John Virgo at the yard a few weeks ago. John is good friends with Cliff and his long-time mate Steve, and has visited him at the yard many times over the years. He has a fantastic knowledge of racing and was really interested in the horses, as well as being interesting to meet. We are having a chat as I hold Tabi, our Kayf Tara gelding who is a great lad and will hopefully race on the A/W in the winter. The perfect question came from a little lad also visiting Cliff, who asked if John played snooker ever and if he had won anything!

Autumn approaches..

We have been busy again this month. We had a couple of runners recently with 'Where's Charlie' coming 6th at Newmarket on his first run. He handled the whole day out very well and even won the best turned out for James and Gail who do a brilliant job riding and looking after him. 'Toballa' ran in the same race, but unfortunately nicked a joint so did not live up to her best. She is fine now and will hopefully run again this week, with Charlie and 'Always the Sun' - ground permitting as always.

We bought a new colt at Doncaster sales recently and I have been really pleased with him. He settled well and will be working slowly away once he has been gelded this week - something for him to look forward to!!.. He is most likely to be owned by a small group of friends who have been waiting for the yearling sales this year to invest and have a bit of fun.

Yard wise, the horses are still out everyday, enjoying what is left of the sun, but they are now moving towards putting rugs on - it was quite chilly this morning! Nearly had to put my winter warmers on (don't ask!).

We had a good craic last night - anyone who is a budding singer and fancies a go at some high level karaoke should make their way down to the Waggon & Horses in Newmarket. Sunday night is the night for singing! There are some cracking voices to be heard and anyone and everyone has a go. Other trainers and some jockeys can be seen and sometimes heard - but I better not mention names! I am a 'Dire Straits' man myself and give another couple of artists a fair go as well.