20/09/20

I'm pleased to say that the winning run of the horses continued into last week as Engrave got a much deserved first win on her CV at Chelmsford on Thursday. She had run some good races in defeat at this course and on the turf too so a win was not coming out of turn and everything went her way with jockey Dylan Hogan doing a great job in the saddle.
With all the Covid restrictions still in place, it isn't the best experience for an owner at the races win, lose or draw yet but at least owner Carol Bushnell could be there to see it in person. We should count ourselves lucky though as it looks like more and more of us will be heading towards a stricter lockdown so we should appreciate being able to still go racing at least and hopefully owners will be allowed to continue attending for the foreseeable future as their support is essential to the sport.

Engrave and Dylan Hogan power clear at Chelmsford

Dylan, Carol, Engrave & Ross socially distance in the winner's enclosure

We had all our runners on one day last week with One Of The Girls also at Chelmsford and she ran a blinder on her third career start. Making the running seemed to really suit her and she can hopefully build upon this now she qualifies for handicap races.
Gas Monkey was elsewhere at Yarmouth in a valuable Class 2 handicap. The pace of the race was very steady and he made his move a bit sooner than ideal before getting tired but I don't think it was the step up to 1m6f that caught him out. I'd be happy to give him another try over this distance when the suitable time comes.

It's another quiet-ish few days for us coming up with just a pair of runners bookending the week.
Spanish Mane is in fine form and will be hoping to win her third race of the season at Leicester on Monday. She is in an apprentice race for riders who haven't ridden more than 10 winners and I think I've done well to book Saffie Osborne who seems to be riding well at the moment. Spanish Mane loves to come late off a fast pace so hopefully things pan out that way again and she can run another big race.
We won't be in action again until Saturday when Winter Snowdrop will also be trying the make it two wins in a row. She won impressively at Yarmouth last time and I don't think the switch in surface to Chelmsford will be a problem as she has form on it in the past. She seems in good order at home so fingers crossed she can put in another good performance.