Blog

Happy Christmas and all that goes with. For a lot of racing people tomorrow is the start of Christmas and it’s a first for us with a bumper runner. I grew up on a diet of bumper and point to point horses. The flat scene wasn’t really on the radar. Obviously we were glued to the rarefied world of Vincent and Lester, HRAC et al but the day to day stuff was all about trying to find the winner of the bumper. I rode out for Joe Crowley for 2 summers as a kid and he was hoovering up all the bumpers. He’d go to Gowran with 2 fillies and win both divisions, tiny little scabs of things he could make them sing. Joe was one of the first to discover real fitness and he could get moderate horses operating at a huge level. Anyone can gallop horses but to get that edge in to them is the hard part. The Hill has stood the test of time to be fair! On to tomorrow it’s a very hot race and any of us would not be bold enough to be getting ideas but Curlew Hill is a nice horse. He will need it in every way imaginable but he should show enough to suggest he’s a horse capable of going somewhere. We’ll try and get a night out over Christmas and then roll on the New Year. It’ll be rounds of vaccinations, worming, clipping, shoeing, fresh ones etc. Wrapped up in all that activity will be dreams and chatter. It’s great watching the babies develop and the new second hand ones finding their feet, going from hating life and exercise to thriving and embracing it. Fingers crossed for 2020. Find a spot where you’re happy and do the best you can.