Ayr (2nd January) review

Well not quite the start to the new decade that we'd have hoped for, as both our horses at Ayr last Thursday were below form and well beaten.

Big Bad Dream was hard work as he wasn't really ever travelling on the bit, and jumped scratchily. A wee bit frustrating but we know he is liable to turn in a performance like this on occasion. Callum kept the gelding going in dogged fashion to finish a remote 4th. It was atrocious weather conditions and testing ground so we'll probably seek out a sounder surface next time.
He remains a horse with lots of ability.......

Eternally Yours is another with plenty of ability but her performance when beaten about 60 lengths in the 2m 5f handicap hurdle was a very poor effort. So it was no surprise when she was quite a sick horse the next day - off colour, sweating, coughing a little.
She'll be given a full check-out in the next few days, and plenty time to recover.

Other stable news

On Saturday while both our runners from a couple of days previous went out for a leg stretch in nearly lanes, it was business as usual for most of the string.

Stainsby Girl and Dali Mail had been a bit quiet recently, so their morning exercise had been lightened. However in the last week both, thankfully, had been showing us their well-being (squealing, bucking, kicking etc.)  so they completed 1 and a half gallops and were in good heart. They're fairly fit from early December racecourse runs and so the duo will be back to full gallops from today, to set them just about right for another run in about a fortnight's time.

Danced Every Dance and Bushmill Boy hold entries at Catterick (Thursday) and Sedgefield (Friday) respectively and after a warm up 'Up-the-Middle' did a faster paced piece second time.

Later in the afternoon, Callum and Garry set off down to Newcastle to give Paper Roses and Lady Villanelle a spin round the All Weather after racing. The pair covered the full 2 miles and finished upsides. Lady Villanelle had been thwarted somewhat as a minor ailment prevented a debut run last week so it was good to give her racecourse experience.
Hope to see both mares back on the track soon.

Danced Every Dance (Laura) and Bushmill Boy (Pinky)