Stainsby Girl wins for the yard at Newcastle yesterday

Stainsby Girl pings the last on her way to victory yesterday

Four runners yesterday and in their own way, each ran pleasingly enough.

Pride of place of course goes to our winner on the day Stainsby Girl. Co-owners Al Duncan and Helen Simpson were delighted with their mare, bought as a foal, that she was able to supplement her bumper win last season with a hurdle victory as well.
Although she started at the prohibitive odds of 2-7 (allowing her owner to dig up that old chestnut 'if you've got the seven, you don't need the two'), it was with a sense of relief when Callum popped the mare clear over the last as we were running Stainsby Girl just two weeks after her last run.

She wasn't quite at her best here so she'll be given time to recover between runs in future. No matter how fresh and well she is in the mornings!

A good enough prize though, and the NH MOPS bonus is a nice boost for the owners and yard.

Keyboard Gangster was a wee bit unfortunate as he was closing in on the leading three when capsizing 2 out. He wasn't going to win but was in the process of running a more encouraging race than of late.

First time blinkers had an impact on Big Bad Dream of sorts. He travelled much better in part, but at other times he still ran lazily. He seemed to get outpaced jumping 3 out and no amount of encouragement from Callum was making any difference. Jumping the last, he stayed on quite well to finish a close up third, beaten just over 3 lengths.

Unusually, the bumper was run at a ferocious pace with the stronger, more experienced geldings to the fore in the final 2 furlongs. The winner Tupelo Mississippi is clearly very useful.
Lady Villanelle is a youngster who continually works well with our 120+ rated mares in the morning but was not yet fully strengthened and mature enough to land a blow here. In the holding ground this proved crucial.
Nevertheless, she kept on well into 4th place although well adrift. Overall, she will have benefitted for the experience and remains at the head of our promising mares list.

Laura leads in Stainsby Girl and Callum, post race