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I’m travelling to Dundalk as we speak and thought it might be a good time to write something. We’ve had a really quiet period since April marked by a single winner with Surac early August. The horses we have been running have been running by and large OK but not really threatening to win. Well, a few have but missed their chances and of the horses we have they can’t afford to miss their opportunities. We run Marvelosa later in an extended 10 furlong maiden. Her form has her battling for 3rd but you’re just hoping she can step up on her form and take on the front 2. One is a son of the mighty Atlantic Jewel and Lloyd Williams owns the other. He might not be a Melbourne Cup horse but it give you an idea of what we’re taking on week in week out.
Selling the good ones comes home to roost of course and in the last 12 months Gwan So emigrated to Australia and our 2 lovely bumper horses relocated to Closutton. Evenwood Sonofagun would have won but was worth more as a maiden hurdler than with a winning bracket. That’s our business for now but it creates a situation where you’re working to unearth a new one and exhorting the lesser ones to contribute. That always impacted me in that I stressed a lot about how our momentum had disappeared and was I losing my marbles. I understand it better now and just stick to the principals and wait. Where it has an impact is it puts pressure on your existing owners. How can they have winners if you’re not having winners? An understandable conundrum but one, you hope, you can navigate. Good communication helps but you’re asking people to have blind faith or long memories. Not always easy. Luckily we have that with a core group and the support is humbling. Most of us love new things but new things get old. I still think we win with anything we have that is capable of winning but that’s not an unreasonable expectation. Why have a horse here? For that reason but also because of the way I conduct my business. David O Meara told me always tell the truth because then you never have to remember what you said. It’s good advice and I’d like to think it has helped us. Truth, when it comes to horses can be exhausting and has it’s pitfalls. It’s great relaying details of talented horses blossoming and coming forward and hitting their milestones. Less so detailing disappointments, injuries and an inexplicable failure to progress. What you know as a trainer and what you think you know aren’t necessarily the same thing but it seems important that what I know (or think I know) an owner should also. We’ve had a few enquiries recently and I laugh at myself detailing the cons of particular horses. They have pros but my instinct is to emphasise where things can go south. I’m not sure what my point is but I’d love that to mean more in growing this place. We’ve had 60 winners in less than 6 years and we rode 11 this morning. 11 is not a lot. That’s not Willie’s or Joseph’s fault, nor Gordon’s but it’s an extraordinary reality. We have terrific owners but we need more. Why not? Syndicates don’t need to cost more than it costs to buy and train a horse. We will invoice individually for up to 8 people. More that that gets messy. If one individual is taking care of 10 or 20 then of course a reasonable admin fee is understandabke but it doesn’t have to be a lot, or it shouldn’t. Anyway, keep us in mind. The Horses In Training sales are next week, we’ve got some dingers out of there. I’ll be there, Maths Prize or Beach Bar or Morph Speed might be too.
PS I didn’t buy Morph Speed, I was sent him, but he still went on a 30lb improvement run.
Next time I post I’ll be boooooooming a big win. 😂