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.

Cropredy Lawn Update

After the excitement of The Open Day weekend, this last week took on a rather mundane look. ASHES SUMMER got trapped on the rail around Kempton and by the time she extracated herself the front two had flown. DE SOTO was a non-runner at Stratford, due to the ground quickening up rapidly on a warm windy day and then COME APRIL was too rusty and unhappy on the undulations of Goodwood. We stayed down for a night near Goodwood and the highlight of the week was our discovery of The Royal Oak at East Lavant and the Kingley Vale Nature Reserve nearby. If you ever have the chance you must visit both, as our walk through the vale, the largest and oldest Yew forest in Europe, on a cloudless autumn day, was truely spectacular.
Back to business with a vengence today at Market Rasen. The promise of good ground and lots of loot lures us upto Lincolnshire with DE SOTO and ROBERT THE BRAVE. Both horses are in great form and have good 'shouts'. The handicap is worth a massive 60k, so is obviously very competitve, but DE SOTO could still be well-handicapped, so maybe it's best to have a crack at a big pot now. ROBERT only has four rivals, but King Troy is rated well above us and will be difficult to beat.
AUSTRALIA DAY tries 1 1/2m. for the first time at Ascot on sunday. This is a bit of an experiment as we all know how keen he can be and Ascot is not really a front-runner's track, but although he gets beaten for speed sometimes in the final furlong, he is usually staying on again at the line. Let us hope that Martin Dwyer is allowed an easy lead.
So chances in valuable races over the weekend, lets hope we can grab some of the swag somewhere!
P.S. Watch out for the unveiling of a possible future star in the 5.05 at Gowran today...Midas Touch. He may not win today, but follow this comet's tail!

Cropredy Lawn Update.

What a spectacular day Open Day Sunday was, pictures of which will appear on the web-site a.s.a.p. Over 250 guests, on a beautiful September day in a lovely relaxed atmosphere. All horses AND humans were on their very best behaviour and the day was supplemented by the finest food and drink. Add all that to the fact that we have raised between £4-5,000 for the Oxon./Berks./Bucks Air Ambulance and you'll see why everybody was pretty knackered yesterday!
ASHES SUMMER did not quite get the 'breaks' at Kempton yesterday. She was ment to track Frankie Dettori, but got trapped on the rails further back than intended, so the first two got first run on her. She finished a lot closer to Kinetics than at Bath and is still making progress. We will decide whether to pursue our aim of winning a maiden or handicap on the flat before going 3.y.o. hurdling.
DE SOTO runs at Stratford today over 2m. 7f. and looks to have a favourite's chance. He is in top form and i hope has gained confidence from his win at Bangor. The track and trip is on the sharp side for him, but we hope that he has the class to get away with that.

Cropredy Lawn Update.

AUSTRALIA DAY followed up his easy win last weekend with a very creditable fourth at Doncaster on thursday. There is no doubt that he's a slightly better horse racing right-handed as he favours 'leading' with his off-fore leg and just tends to lean away from the rail that way around. His front-running tactic tends to set it up for his competitiors who, now that he has gone from 68 to 97 in the weights, have the class to pick him off. It could be time to experiment with a try at 1 1/2m. He might then gain an easier lead, yet he shows no sign of stopping in his races, as though stamina may not be a problem.
We send what we think is a pretty nice two year old for his debut at Leicester today. RAKHAPURA has had a good preparation and has worked nicely at Wolverhampton on two occasions. He's a bit gassy and is best ridden in behind as he get a bit keen, but i would think they should go fast enough over six furlongs to lessen that problem. He looks fit and hard but will obviously benefit from the race and he is in against some experienced rivals. His lad, Danny Hannig has done a tremendous job with this horse and we are hopeful of a very encouraging run. If he remains calm and settled, i'm sure he'll run with great promise.
This is one of the most frantic weeks of the year , building up to The Open Day on sunday and is you stand still around here for a second, you will either get brushed, swept up or painted! Got to go as it's time for first lot and then i've got to finish painting the gates and fences at the top of the drive. We've got a few horses to sell this week and first impressions count for a lot!!