NEWS
Saturday 11th April 2009
Utter disbelief at the state of the ground at Haydock after walking the course after the first race.
Kirkland Telwright put me off running a bumper horse after telling me the ground was good to firm and after walking I found the ground had been over watered and the ground in my opinion was good, good to soft in places. All of the good, good to firm horses disappointed trainers and owners. Go West simply didn’t get 3 ˝ miles which he was trying for the first time in this ground.
Sunday 5th April 2009
Marufo wins at Southwell!
Stephen gave Marufo a confident ride to finish 5 lengths clear of Sarah's Gift, his nearest rival. Marufo carried 34 lbs more!
After running well on his seasonal debut at Newbury it was obvious that soft ground was not to his liking however yesterday was a different matter as he travelled strongly throughout the race.
I will look forward to running him again soon and we will keep him on the go throughout the summer season.
I am looking forward to having my first runner for Susan Holliday, Chicago Jazz is making his debut for the yard at Sedgefield on Tuesday. It will be 694 days since his last run but he is in good shape and feeling extremely well.
Saturday 21st March 2009
Connections Happy with Go West!
A great day was had by all connections of Go West with all of the owners and many friends being invited to a Social Spitfire hospitality box on the top floor of the Tommy Whittle stand at Haydock Park.
With the box situated right on the winning line and a buffet lunch provided the view and atmosphere could not have been better.
Go West made a very promising debut for 2009 finishing third only beaten by 6 lengths by the winner.
Wednesday 18th March 2009
Disapointed with going report!
After speaking to the clerk of the course before declaring i was promised that the ground at Chepstow would be verging on good. However, whe we got there to see for ourselves it was nearer to soft. In hindsight i should have withdrawn Morenito and Be My Deputy as Morenito deffinately got stuck in the mud and Be My Deputy ran very well considering the home straight was like glue.
Sunday 15th March 2009
Victor Daly wins at Southwell!
After a nine month break Victor Daly returned to the track in tremendous style at Southwell. Where he gave his usual display of jumping to win his 5th race for Chris and Candia Compton.
He thrives on flat left handed courses on good and good to firm ground. His next target is a race at Bangor on Dee in 3 weeks time. We are then hoping to take him back to Aintree in May.
Saturday 21st February 2009
A VERY BUSY WEEK!!!
This week has been all systems go with runners up and down the country! On Wednesday Be My Deputy had his first run in a National Hunt Flat Race at Doncaster. Finishing a respected 8th on soft ground considering the race turned into a five furlong sprit!
Thursday proved a rather hectic day with Andrew, Paul and Raincoat setting off for Musselburgh and Another Present, Marufo and All Roads Lead running at Huntingdon. All three horses came home safe but I felt that they were all a piece of work short due to the snow and icy conditions of the past weeks.
Interestingly Another Present’s two half brothers Mahonia and Time for Rupert both ran at the same meeting in the same race. Time for Rupert won and Mahonia finished mid division in a high standard novice hurdle. Mahonia also has two entries for the Cheltenham Festival. With both these horses having 5 wins between the two of them from only a handful of runs we are all looking forward to Another Present running to her relatives form!
After a long journey Raincoat finished 4th in what ended up to be a very hot Novice Hurdle. The winner of this race Red Maloney is currently 12/1 for the Supreme Novices at Cheltenham. We would have been second if we had not pecked after the last. Raincoat was having his first run over hurdles and all the horses finishing in front of us has had at least two runs in hurdle races. He had schooled well at home and jumped accurately on the course. He will sharpen up with more race experience
Monday 16th February 2009
Back To Normal
After a frustrating and very long fortnight of extremely bad weather with snow and then horrendous frost and ice to finish up with, we are finally back to normal. Most horses in the yard cantered today and seven others worked who I am intending to run this week or next.
We are looking forward to having three runners at Huntingdon on Thursday (Marufo, Another Present and All Roads Leads). Be My Deputy is declared at Doncaster on Wednesday but is likely to be balloted out. Raincoat is entered at Musselburgh on Friday and although travelling that far is not ideal he needs to run somewhere on better ground.
We hope to finish the week with Before Dark having his long awaited return to the course at Chepstow on Saturday! Darkie is not bothered how heavy the going is!!!
Friday 30th January 2009
Abandonded Exeter
After a long break from the course Before Dark was due to make a reapearance at Exeter on Tuesday. For this he was made favourite and we were looking forward to running him. We now hope to run him at Huntingdon next wednesday although the ground at Huntingdon will not be testing enough for him.
This is very frustrating as Before Dark is the only horse we have that we know likes heavy ground.
Monday 26th January 2009
All Roads Lead
After a few frustrating days with racing being abandoned. We had him declared at Leicester in a ladies race over 2 1/2 miles and the meeting was off due to waterlogging and then the following day he was declared again over 2 1/2 miles at Huntingdon and the ground was frozen. With the owners landed from Ireland we all settled for a nice lunch in The Queens instead.
This bought All Roads Lead's debut run for us to Taunton yesterday in a conditional jockeys race. Unfortunately this race was over 3 miles and on soft ground. Personally i would have discribed this ground as heavy!
Liam Heard rode to instruction and the horse jumped and travelled extremely well until tiring off the final bend and from this we have decided that we will keep the horse to 2 1/2 miles whilst conditions are so testing.
Friday 16th January 2009
Morenito at Ludlow
Morenito ran very respectively considering we knew our fate before we started. With the ground being soft and trying 3 miles over fences for the first time we now know to wait for better ground and not consider anything more than 2m 5f. Morenito has come out of his race very well and I still regard him better than his handicap mark suggests.
Thursday 15th January 2009
Marufo
Marufo ran a very promising first race over fences at Newbury yesterday. We had hoped to run him in a slightly less competitive race than this but we wanted to run him on a galloping track where the ground would not be to testing. With such a lovely racecourse like Newbury on our door step this was the best option. Having not run since his victory at Aintree he was always going to be keen over the first few fences.
Lisa, Stephen and I thought it was important to drop him in and teach him to settle on such testing ground. This was not helped with the field going slowly over the first mile and Stephen did very well to get him into a rhythm considering at nearly every fence he was knocked in midair by one or other of Brendan Powells runners.
He was noted as the horse to take out of the race by Racing UK and had many admirers on the day. Baring in mind horses that had already won this season pulled up. We will try and get him out as soon as possible so that he will settle better next time. I feel there is lots more to come from Marufo.
Wednesday 5th November 2008
Another Present's brother, Mahonia shows promise for Supreme Novices Hurdle. There are currently 2/3 shares available for sale in Another Present.
MAHONIA & OUMEYADE CHEER LEWIS ON BITTERSWEET DAY - Racing Post 5th November 2008
Jim Lewis has had a love-hate relationship with Haldon Gold Cup day. He has known many more good ones than bad, but the bad one was as wretched as any horse-loving owner could bear. Yesterday, thankfully, he went home a happy man, writes Lee Mottershead.
Between 2001 and 2006, Lewis won Exeter's biggest race four times. The first of those was with Best Mate, who in 2005 was taken from his owner and the sport in the most miserable Haldon Gold Cup ever run. The memory of that afternoon has not stopped Lewis coming back to Exeter, where he yesterday watched two of his brightest young prospects, the Paul Nicholls trainer Mahonia and Oumeyade, with the contemptuous ease under Ruby Walsh, raising hopes of easier happier days to come.
Mahonia barely came off the bridle when justifying 4-7 favouritism on his hurdling debut in the 2m1f novice event, prompting Stan James to quote him at just 16-1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. William Hill make him 20-1 for the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle. “It’s a weird old day for me this,” said Lewis. “It’s bitter and sweet, wonderful and romantic. Paul is also a romantic, and he will have been planning to bring the horse here for this day.”
Nicholls, who had nominated Mahonia as one to follow in his Racing Post column last week, said: “You can already see that he’ll jump a fence, and that’s what he’ll do next year, but he’ll win a nice race along the way first".
Article courtesy of the Racing Post
Monday 20th October 2008
Plumpton (Almost a double!)
We had a great day at Plumpton today with a winner and a 2nd. Stephen Craine gave Drawback a very sensible ride in an action packed Maiden Hurdle. Stephen kept him out of trouble and steered a great course. Only a typically gritty & determined finish from Christian Williams prevented a 33/1 winner! Better was to come in the Novices Handicap Chase when Stephen gave Morenito a textbook ride to win at 15/2.
Friday 17th October 2008
To coincide with our move to East Garston we are delighted to announce the launch of our new website.
We intend to keep this news page up-to-date and keep you informed of news here at Mabberlys.
