Great start to the season

Well, the real NH season anyway, as Hartforth got us off the mark with a fine victory in the 3 mile handicap hurdle at Hexham yesterday.
Held up in rear by Callum early on, he pulled quite hard to be honest, and we were a bit worried that he may not see out this 3 miles at such a stiff track. But Callum kept the gelding covered up, and he jumped well into the bargain, and thrilled us all by hitting the front on turning into the home straight, where a good jump at the last sealed it.

Hartforth is certainly one of the more further forward of our string, but until we had hit the racetrack it's hard to compare against other racehorses. However, this should give us a fair yardstick with with to gauge the relative fitness of the rest of the string.
Oh, and The Brave Lads did, sure enough, enjoy their day out, just a pity syndicate leader Donald Miller had just flown out on holiday that morning!!

But one swallow does not make a summer, and we're not resting on laurels at all, and we're looking forward to a bit of rain during the week and maybe a couple of runners at Kelso next Saturday.

Hexham scorer Hartforth

Weekend update

Hartforth was away running at Hexham on Saturday, and with Shadow Boxer having an easy couple of days (nothing untoward), there were a couple of regular faces missing from the normal weekend gallops. But on the plus side, a couple of horses who came back in a bit later than the others have now started initial morning work-outs.

Anyway, for fellow anoraks, here's a full list of the weekend gallops -

First lot

• Snapping Turtle
• 'Achilles'
• Allegheny Valley
• Mini the Minx

Second lot

• Ellistrin Belle (Garry)
• Nodda High Kid (Ryan)
• Charlie Bucket (Conor)
• Bollin Julie (Kyle)

Third lot

• Bollin Fiona (Garry)
• Yo La Tengo (Kyle)

'Hey Ryan, I can see your house from here!'