Stable news

Well, that was a nice change!

A weekend with lots of sunshine, and no wind, brought with it lots of smiles from our team of work riders and a smattering of owners on the gallops too. And, our web team even ventured south to take some photos, gather gossip and eat lots of scones and jam.

With more lads down at the yard than the average number of runners in a novice chase, it was a noisy place on Saturday with lots of genial mickey-taking going on - a great atmosphere all round. Where were you Aicky?

Anyway, more seriously, there were a couple of the string on the easy list, but apart from that we worked 8 horses in 2 lots:

Lot 1

• Snapping Turtle went well in 2 spins on the 'Up the Middle' gallop. He's being aimed at a staying hurdle in a couple of weeks time with a revised BHA mark of 110 off which we hope he should again be competitive
• Tomahawk Wood is another who has come down in the official rankings and is now rated 80. He'll step back down in trip from the 3m plus he tackled last time and is a horse in whom we continue to believe. One of the partnership owners - Fozzo - was on the gallops but his influence on our photographer seemed lost as Tomahawk Wood is almost impossible to see in the photo below. Anyway, he did his 2 pieces of work enthusiastically.
• Baby Ticker was given one easy spin up the gallop having run a few days ago
• Paper Roses is quire fit and is not long away from a run, and breezed up the gallops in her usual style
• It was so good to see our Gamut gelding make a return to stretching out in the mornings, and he went nicely once up the gallop. Look for him to make a debut in a bumper in a couple of months time.

Lot 2

• Hartforth led his work companions in a steady canter on the 'Up the Middle' gallop
• Shades of Midnight did a light piece of work after his successful exertions in heavy ground at Kelso last week. Oh, and how delighted we all were at the stable on hearing the news that he'd been raised 13lb by the handicapper last Tuesday.
• Macmidnight has had her problems over the last couple of seasons, and we've just started her back in training with a view to a flat campaign in a couple of months time. She had done well physically in that period off, and went nicely this weekend as well.

Snapping Turtle leads Paper Roses, Tomahawk Wood and Baby Ticker

Hartforth runs at Ayr tomorrow

Part owner Donald Millar was one of the Saturday morning gallop watchers for Lot 2, and standing alongside Nick B, he was delighted that Hartforth worked more like himself in a small group containing Shades of Midnight. Tomorrow's 2m 5f handicap hurdle was the original target of 'Shady' before his handicap mark was raised over the 135 threshold for this race, but we've got an able enough replacement in 'Hart'.

After running 5 races without success off a BHA rating of 120, Hartforth runs tomorrow off OR118 where clearly the 2lb drop will make a huge difference. It's actually quite a tight race if all horses run to their best form, but we'd be looking on this as more of a confidence booster for our gelding after being slightly off-colour a few weeks ago.

Hartforth (Lyall) leads Macmidnight (Garry) in a weekend workout