Ellistrin Belle wins again
Fantastic stuff, enjoyed fully by her owners Ron & Eileen Smith.
Ellistrin Belle won for the second time in her career, and proved victorious in the same race that she won last season. Her profile coming into the race was familiar - this was her first race after a summer break, albeit she was 4lb higher in the handicap.
Settled nicely in rear by Callum, she travelled smoothly most of the way. Taking it up approaching 2 out which she jumped slightly awkwardly providing encouragement for her nearest rival. But Callum was alert to the danger and drove the mare on in front, never headed, on towards the line.
First time out each season is most definitely the best time to catch Ellistrin Belle who we're sure is destined for the paddocks in the Spring.
So what do we do now with a horse that's best fresh? From left field we could rough her off for a month or 2 and bring her back in training to simulate a summer break............well, maybe.
Ellistrin Belle
'When is Easter, Donald?'
Still in an ebullient mood after Belle's success yesterday, Ron Smith
was in touch and sent us an email about the Challenger Series.
This is a new BHA initiative for middle range handicappers (see below),
and Ellistrin Belle won a Series Qualifier at Sedgefield. Here are Ron's
thoughts....
The link above tries to explain what the Challenger series is all about. I'm not sure I understand it. Fifteen races in each category, the first eight in each race could qualify? But at least we know it's the prelude to a Channel 4 televised event at Haydock Park on Easter Saturday.
Now, when's Easter?
Well, Ron it's in April init? The beginning of April, or is it the
middle? Or end of March if it's not......er, we dunno!
So we trolled and surfed and came up with the following -
Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Some years show Western Christian churches and Eastern Orthodox churches celebrating Easter on different dates. This is because Western churches use the Gregorian calendar (standard calendar for most of the world) and Orthodox churches use the older Julian calendar. Eastern Orthodox Easter always falls after Passover since the Crucifixion and Resurrection took place after Jesus entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
So there you go Ron.
Donald (left) with Eileen and Ron (hidden) Smith
