What a delight not having to drive along the A14 today, as commuting to Newmarket for the four days of the Horse in Training sale becomes a bit of bind. However well worth all the study and hardwork to purchase GTAAB fron Ed Dunlop and Shadwell Stud. Pictures and details will appear on this site very shortly, so please take interest.
KENTMERE returns to the racecourse after 397 days at Uttoxeter today. He was an intended runner at Towcester last sunday, but although they had done their best and indeed a good job watering the track, the take-off and landings of the fences were still very quick. Sadly no sprinklers seem to manage to reach these areas as evenly as the rest of the course and there is also a tendency for take-offs and landings to become compacted and unforgiving. This a much hotter contest than the one he had to miss where he was a 7/1 'morning-line' chance, as opposed to a 25/1 shot today. He will run better than his price suggests but may be too 'rusty' to win.
Saturday's plans are still not confirmed, more later.

A moderate week so far on the racecourse but plenty being achieved at home as the horses work towards their seasonal debuts. The trainer made (yet another!) error by under-cooking MRS. TRELLIS, who 'needed' her run more than i had expected at Worcester on wednesday. She jumped and ran very well until she 'blew up' quickly, two hurdles from home. Sorry, but do not lose any faith in her, she is a good filly in the making. The rain came at exactly the wrong moment for RED BIRR, and he could not cope with the loose, chewed ground at Ludlow. A mid-winter wind operation awaits him after a little holiday.
LASKARI is extremely well, in fact i'll ruin his chances by saying that he's never looked or felt better. It is a competitive veterans chase today but he usually runs very well when fresh and I hope he's fit enough, there's the doubt after last week's nasty surprise. JUST VICTOR has thrived for his little summer break and has an each-way chance in a warm maiden hurdle at Stratford. DUDLEY DOCKER makes his debut over hurdles and although working and schooling well, there has to be a doubt, or at least it is unknown, whether he'll get the trip.

Cropredy Lawn Update.

The weekend did not go according to plan. ASHES SUMMER ran very acceptably in her first hurdle race and loved the jumping bit, finishing a very creditable third, but AUSTRALIA DAY got no furhter than the landing side of the first! Seldom has a horse had conditions so in his favour, so for Lady Bad Luck to intervene was nothing less than a bloody nightmare. After slipping on landing the horse scrapped himself up of the floor, jumped two steeplechase fences, went to the front again, won the race by 35 lengths and then did an extra lap of the track! Somehow, he is pretty unscathed a will hopefully have the chance to make amands before the weather finally turns wetter. COME APRIL was a complete cow at Pontefract and let us down badly, enough said.
Today MRS. TRELLIS runs in a very hot mares only hurdle race at Worcester. She ran very adequately in her mares bumper in the spring and has physically thrived since then. She schools well and will run well, but may still only finish 3rd,4th of 5th in this spicey contest.

Cropredy Lawn Update

What a frantic week, despite only having one runner and no yearling sale to attend!
We've been on a four-lot routine for a month now and the horses have been doing tremendous groundwork for their preparation towards their seasonal debuts.
We are all hoping for rain in order to proceed with schooling but i do admit i would be reluctant to have swapped some of the glorious autumn mornings that we have had recently for 'soft refreshing rain'. On tuesday we schooled 21 horses over the tyres, baby hurdles and full-size hurdles. It was more show-jumping practice than schooling as the handbrakes were full-on, as the ground is still so fast. But we have had very heavy dews and have also purposely left the grass longer than usual to provide some sort of cushion to the schooling field. William Kennedy, Andrew Thornton, Danny Hannig, Ben Brackenbury and Josh Pierce were all kept busy and remarkably all 21 horses jumped well. For many this was their first jumping experience outside of our loose jumping-lane where they have had masses of practice. All that loose-schooling has taught them well as they all jumped straight and with great enthusiasm.
Amongst tuesday's jumpers were tomorrow's runners ASHES SUMMER and AUSTRALIA DAY who both look in excellent form and well-being. ASHES SUMMER makes her debut in the 3.y.o. hurdle after running well in her two maidens on the flat at Bath and Kempton. This filly has a tremendous attitude and continues to improve. It's a while since we had a promising juvenile hurdler, especially a filly, but i hope we have one here. AUSTRALIA DAY has conditions absolutely in his favour tomorrow as going right-handed on fast ground at Kempton should be as an ideal scenario as he'll ever get. His run over 1 1/2m. at Ascot last time proved that he now stays better than last year. The form of his very good fourth on the flat at Doncaster is rock solid, as the winner Mawatheeq won the Cumberland Lodge and runs in the Champion Stakes today and the second Eastern Aria won a listed race in France next time out. His race is a valuable listed novice hurdle with good competition but we think he remains in top form.
COME APRIL runs at Pontefract on monday and i think the stiff 1 1/4m. will suit her better than the underlating 1 1/2m at Goodwood last time. She has dropped 5lbs and should be less 'rusty' than she was at Goodwood which was her first start for well over two years. Her work has been consistently good and she should go close in this race.